Seducing the Careers

Glimmer

As we walk, I try to remember the paths we walk through and the general shape and intricacies of the arena.

I nod upwards, causing the others to pause their talking.

"There. There's a girl up that tree" I say.

Trees are probably the one of the smartest hiding spots in this arena.

I try to ignore the horrible feeling that comes with condemning this girl. Feelings like that could be addressed after I survive these games.

I can only hope I don't die here, with my last actions being murderous and cruel.

Right now, I just need to remain semi useful to the Careers, who are one of the only things keeping me alive.

"District 7. I guess she's got lots of trees back home" I say.

"Good eye, Three" Marvel says, as the group walks over to the base of the tree.

Cato is the first to try to climb the tree.

"Kill her Cato!" Clove cheers him on.

"I'm coming for you!" Cato yells at the girl, while failing to climb.

Glimmer seems to grow impatient. "I'll do it myself" she says, grabbing a bow and arrow and missing a few times.

"Maybe you should throw the sword" Clove suggests to Cato, who clearly doesn't want to lose his sword.

"Let's just wait her out. She gotta come down at some point, it's that or starve to death" I reason.

I look up to see another girl in a tree. The little one from district 11. But I keep this one to myself. Along with a little shred of humanity that I won't let myself lose. She's just a kid.

"Okay. Somebody make a fire" Cato instructs.

We gather some branches and Marvel lights a match from one of the cornucopia packs.

Glimmer volunteers for night watch and the rest of us sleep.

This was my first sleep in a while, since Clove and I didn't sleep that last night.

Then, I awake to pandemonium.

Tracker Jackers. Genetically engineered wasps that attack anything disturbing their nests.

The girl must've cut off a branch and made the nest fall to us, near where Glimmer was.

Glimmer started screaming and running away. But I know she'll be dead soon when I realize she's running away from both the fire and the nearest water sources.

The screams wakes Clove, and I pull her with my before too many Tracker Jackers can get to us.

I go to a tree and pull off a large branch.

"Smoke! They're scared of smoke. Marvel, light another match" I say.

He scrambles for a match and then lights my branch, which I wave in protection around us, causing the Tracker Jackers to back off.

"How did this happen?" Cato asks, enraged.

"Glimmer must've fallen asleep on guard and not noticed the girl cutting the tree to drop the nest on us" Clove says.

"Yeah, and she's dead now" Marvel says, upset at the loss of his partner. There's a small moment of silence as they seem to realize they can die too.

I thought about Glimmer, and how she was the first to invite me into the group. How she'd flirted with me every chance she got. And how she was kind to me that day, when I had a panic attack after my training evaluation.

"Tracker Jackers track, so let's get out of here. I'll take us to the pond we passed a while ago" I say, handing Clove the branch on fire.

Since I'm apparently the only one who cared to remember landmarks, I lead the group to a pond we passed by a while ago. We wash our wounds to soothe our stings.

A silver parachute floats down over us, causing the container attached to it to land in the water.

Clove grabs it. "It's got your name on it. Probably a sponsor gift" she says, handing it to me.

I open it to find a note, a jar of ointment and a few pills.

"What is it?" Cato asks.

I read the note.

"Umm, it's ointment for wounds and pills for hallucinations. Here, help yourselves. There's more than enough for everyone" I say.

Cato pats me on the back. "I knew we kept you around for a reason, Three" he says, taking a pill.

Clove takes my note. "Woah, this was funded by Capitol citizens. It's like a collective citizen patronage. They must really like you. I heard gifts were expensive" she says.

We set up camp by the water and go to rest ourselves.

The pills help, but the venom still kind of starts to mess with us. So the others are trying to sleep it off.

I have the least stings, so I offered to be the watch.

I sit under a tree next to Clove, who's lying down to sleep.

She turns over to me. "Sorry I haven't been how I was back at the training center" she says, seeing the others were asleep.

"Don't apologize. You have to do what's best for you in here" I say, understandingly.

"But I mean, it's not. Being with you would be great for my ratings. I just don't want to lower yours" she says, moving to sit upright next to me.

"You wouldn't lower my ratings, Clove" I say, sweetly.

She looks up into my eyes.

"And since when do you care about anyone but yourself like that?" I add, teasingly.

"You know, beyond the winning and killing, you're all I can think about" she says.

"Well I guess I'm honored to be next after murder" I joke.

"Toni, this is serious. I want a chance to be with you before one of us has to go. Just a taste of what it could've been" she says, shifting her line of sight between my eyes and my lips.

I couldn't really tell if it was the Tracker Jacker venom, or if we were really having a genuine moment.

"Well don't worry about the ratings now. I think the whole of Panem heard your little confession" I say in a low mutter, right as she leans in and kisses me.

She moves to straddle me and kisses me against the tree.

It starts getting a little heated. "Hey, hey. Maybe let's remember that all of Panem could be watching" I giggle, breaking a kiss.

"They'd give us privacy, right? For the kids watching. I just wanna fuck you before one of us has to die" she says, in the midst of the heat of the make out.

I pull away. "Sorry. That totally ruined the mood" she says, sheepishly.

I chuckle at her, as she gets off me and goes back to sitting next to me.

"You should get your rest" I say.

"You're right. You're right. I'm just glad it's out there" she says, leaning on me.

"This is all I needed" she says contently, pecking my lips before drifting off the sleep on my shoulder.

Seeing her asleep on my shoulder was a completely different sight compared to her vicious state earlier in the games.

After a while, Cato wakes up and sees us.

He seems surprised but smirks. "Didn't see that coming" he whispers. I roll my eyes with a smile.

"Sleep. I'll take watch" he says.

I don't know how much I fully trust him. But he's been nice to me so far and it's logically too early for him to turn on the pack.

I nod, thankfully and lean my head over Cloves, allowing myself to pretend for a second that we weren't fighting for our lives in a deadly arena.