[Flowers] • The Hunger Games

Fifteen

The careers inevitably left to either find Madge, or whatever other tribute they could get their hands on. The total amount of them left in the arena was low. The game makers would be finding reasons to move them towards one another soon enough.

Madge had woken up a while ago. Rue, maybe a bit nervous but sympathetic nonetheless, stayed around after she was up.

Whether it was an act or not, Madge fell naturally into the role Asteria had assigned to her. Acting motherly towards the girl. Foraging food for the both of them, even correctly setting snares that would catch game. She prioritized their supplies to Rue as a way of thanking her for protecting her while she was unconscious.

A few days passed in the games. The career pack, now just Marvel, Cato, Clove and Gale, returned every so often to the cornucopia. The district three male was frequently left in charge of guarding all of the supplies while they were out. He was with them- but he certainly wasn't in their pack. More of just a tool for them to use. Even moreso than Gale was. At least Gale was strong, and knew weaponry. The boy from three was just someone they could trick into doing the things they didn't want to do.

Also noteworthy was Foxface, who skirted the edges around the cornucopia and seemed to be considering making a pass at the supplies. If she was careful and calculated, as Asteria knew her to be- she might actually be able to do it. She'd been unsuccessful in her snare attempts thus far and traveling to forage risked running into the career pack, and she'd already gotten most of what was edible in her nearby surroundings.

Gale was becoming increasingly wary of the others. Clove and Cato were closer than anyone had originally anticipated. And Marvel, while a bit air-headed in the same way that Glimmer had been, was strong as an ox and extremely temperamental. Gale relied on the fact that Madge was still alive, and that he was more useful to Cato than the district three male was. That there were people in line for Cato's sword far before he was. But, still. When night would fall, he would often offer to take watch. Or if someone else was doing it then he'd be sleeping with a knife hidden in his bedroll.

By day ten, everyone had fallen into a rhythm. Foxface snuck into the camp while the district three male nodded off to sleep- which inevitably happened most days. Thresh was on the outer limits of the arena. He'd found a cave, and mainly focused on straight up survival. He seemed to hold no qualms about lighting a fire anymore. The careers most definitely knew where he was, but with Madge still out there and easier tributes to dispose of, they wouldn't bother him yet. They were scared of him even if they wouldn't say it. The careers usually stayed out during the day, falling back to the cornucopia by nightfall. Which wouldn't help find Madge and Rue, who were nearly a day's walk from the cornucopia. The careers could walk in a straight line towards them, but would have to turn back before they would reach them if they wanted to get back to the center before nightfall.

Haymitch went out and dealt with sponsors. Madge was funneled food, which she readily shared with Rue. People took her mothering nature to heart as sponsors kept rolling in for the unlikely "sisters" of districts 11 and 12. It wasn't much- this far into the games, anything at all would cost a small fortune. Because the longer these games went on, the more expensive the parcels became. A piece of bread was feasible for one rich sponsor to buy themself on day one. But it would take several pooled sponsors to get even a slice of that same bread by day ten. With the price inflation also came the cut off of food inside the arena as well. The game makers reduced the numbers of smaller game and killed off forage as the days went on. Making everyone hungrier and hungrier, more and more agitated as the games went on.

Gale, with the careers, still had a steady supply of food. Madge and Rue were having a much harder time, but Asteria noticed that Madge was not nearly as frail as even Foxface had become. It couldn't solely be attributed to her prep work- but Asteria knew that Madge had inevitably been so much better off because of it. She was sure Madge would kill for some spaghetti and garlic bread right about now. As much as she'd complained about it before.