[Flowers] • The Hunger Games

Ten

Asteria was scribbling into the first page of a new notebook, a few hours after Haymitch had left. It was night-time in the games, but was only about 7pm in Panem. The careers weren't satisfied with the initial twelve. They were still all riled-up from their excitement from the start of the games. They would be tracking the other tributes through the night.

Gale had opened his big mouth. Said something to the others that was both a blessing and a curse- that he was a tracker. On one hand, it made him that much more useful to the careers. On the other...if they couldn't find anyone, they might just blame him for not being as good of a tracker as he'd led them to believe. It all depended on circumstance.

But they didn't end up needing his skills for this first one. Someone had been stupid enough to light a fire on night one. The smoke rose up from the woods and would've been visible for miles. The careers were off right after it.

It was the girl from eight. She'd...well, Asteria assumed she'd been cold. But you can live with cold. It was stupid, lighting a fire in the games. Even if the arena had been frozen over, without the careers on your side, you never light a fire in the open.

But it wasn't just them finding her that caught Asteria's attention. It was the sword that Cato held, outstretched, to Gale.

"It's your turn, twelve. Prove that you've got what it takes." He told him. Gale looked at it for a moment. And Asteria thought, just briefly, that he was gonna get himself killed by refusing.

But, no. Gale grabbed up the sword. He paced over to the girl, who wasn't stupid enough to try running. The career pack had already surrounded her anyway. He lifted the sword into the air and swung.

A canon sounded.

Being able to kill another tribute day one was good. As awful as that sounded. It meant that he was adapting to what he'd need to do to win faster than some of the others. Asteria nearly went back to her scribbling, before her eyes caught on the other side of the screen.

Madge was only about a hundred yards from there, lying still in a tree. She'd probably noticed the fire. Heard the canon, too- and knew the careers were nearby. The notebook lay forgotten as Asteria watched the screen intently.

"Come on...come on, go the other way." She mumbled, silently. The careers stayed in the area for a moment, congratulating and praising Gale.

Gale blinked a few times, before putting on a falsified smile for them. The Capitol was probably eating it up. And the careers seemed to believe it as well.

"Shit-" Asteria stood up, watching as the careers happened to pick the direction Madge was in. She watched nervously as they followed a game trail towards where she was hiding.

"Did you see that look on her face!" Glimmer laughed, getting Clove to join in while the boys walked behind them. Madge should be able to see the four of them by now, but Gale was still lagging near the end.

"Hey, lover boy." Cato called to Gale, who appeared and stood next to him. "You got any idea where your little girlfriend ran off to?" He asked.

Asteria could see it happen.

Gale saw movement in the tree ever so briefly. He caught sight of Madge's golden hair duck behind the tree again. Asteria paused, breathless, as she waited for him to do something.

He quickly moved his eyes, like he'd just been surveying the woods. He let out a breath as he shook his head.

"Sorry. I was too distracted watching the girl from four take off." He shrugged his shoulders a bit. "Our mentors told us to find water, and then shelter. I doubt she's found a good hiding place yet." He explained.