Survivor - Coriolanus Snow [1]

7

Soteria stood in line with Jessup waiting for her mentor. She smiled as he appeared next to her. The peacekeepers flanked one side of them and walked them forward. Soteria and Coryo walked through the gates and instinctively grabbed hands as they walked onto the floor.

Coryo and Soteria walked towards the middle as other tributes were coughing from the dust. They suddenly heard a sound and turned as the light started coming through the windows illuminating the arena. Suddenly an automated voice spoke "welcome to the arena for the 10th annual Hunger Games. Tributes, mentors, you have 15 minutes to survey the space and discuss strategy."

Soteria surveyed the tributes as she was surveying the arena. Coryo noticed her whip her head to Coral as she called for the boy from 7. She gasped as she realized that the boy from 7 was leaving his district partner. Soteria spoke quietly to Coryo "they are forming a pack."

Coryo looked over and noticed it was Treech the boy from 7, Tanner the boy from 10, and Coral and Mizzen the two from 4. Coryo nodded "you'll need to be careful with them in the arena. If they hunt all together then they are dangerous."

Soteria nodded although as she was discussing plans with Coryo, she was making her own plans in her head. She knew that the pack was too dangerous to take on all together but if she could take them out one by one then they would be more manageable.

All of a sudden, explosions went off all around as Soteria and Coryo both fell to the ground. Coryo quickly got up and pulled Soteria to her feet as well. They both looked up as everything came crumbling down around them. Soteria heard the screams of mentors and tributes alike as they were crushed underneath the rubble.

Coryo lost sight of Soteria in the dust storm but cried out in pain when debris fell on him trapping him under it. Soteria noticed that the tributes were running out of the now-open gate but stopped as Jessup started to pull her away. Instead, she turned around and ran back into the dust.

Coryo watched as Soteria appeared out of the dust. She knelt next to him and he watched in disbelief as she ignored Jessup's yelling to run in favor of trying to pull the debris off of him. She yanked and eventually pulled the debris off of him as Coryo rolled to the side and reached for her. Soteria reached back and their hands had just met when peacekeepers appeared behind her and dragged her off as Coryo passed out.

************

Coryo woke up later in a bed with his cousin and Sejanus at his bedside. He looked at them "Soteria. Is she?"

"She's alive," Tigris spoke and Coryo let out a sigh of relief at the information.

He looked at them "what happened?"

"It was a rebel bombing," Sejanus spoke solemnly. "They must have been planning it for months. Four tributes were killed."

"Everyone's terrified, Coryo." Tigris spoke "people are locking themselves inside their houses. Felix Ravenstill's on life support."

Sejanus spoke up again "the rebels released a message. They said they wanted to tear down the symbol of the Hunger Games on live TV. Marcus got out. He's the only one. Peacekeepers are hunting him in the streets but at least he has a better chance out there than he would tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Coryo sat up and looked at his cousin and best friend appalled. "They're still going through with the games?" He looked at both of their faces "oh, no, Soteria. Soteria could've run. But she saved me."

"And now our final tribute," all three turned to the screen to see Lucky Flickerman. "I first met this young lady in the zoo not too long ago. From District 12... Soteria Baird."

Coryo watched horrified unable to believe that not only were they still going through with this but that they were expecting these kids to want to put on a show after some of them had just died. Coryo was stunned as he watched Soteria open her mouth and sing. He smiled as she did it knowing that she mostly left the singing to her sister but had decided to do it to put on a show. He had to help her out of that arena.

************

That night, Coryo walked gingerly into the arena and looked over the damage that the bombs had caused. He walked to the pillars and noticed that there was a hole in the floor. He went through it and noticed that it led to the stands. If Soteria could get through that hole then she could disappear and hide for the entire games.

That night he sat at his desk looking at the box of rat poison where a rat was presently dying. He grabbed his mother's compact and filled it with the rat poison. He snuck into the zoo before he could change his mind and walked to the bars "Soteria. Soteria."

Soteria woke up from the light sleep she was in at the sound of someone calling her name and gasped when she noticed who it was. She rushed to the bars "you're okay?"

He nodded "listen to me. Those bombs, they have changed everything. They blew the walls out. So that means you can escape up into the stands. There's a hole down in the floor. Leads down to some tunnels. I've tried it and you can disappear down there. So the moment you hear that bell ring, you ignore the weapons in the middle and you run as fast as you can for that hole. And you find a place to hide down below. Alone."

Soteria looked at him confused "but what about Jessup?"

"You can't tell him," Coryo spoke desperately urging her to listen to him. "You can't trust anyone but yourself in there."

Soteria was silent for a moment before nodding "alright."

"There's something else." Coryo took a breath and spoke, "If I'm going to risk everything I need to know... is this real?"

Soteria looked at him before leaning closer and kissing him through the bars. "Yes, it's real."

Coryo pulled away smiling, he then reached into his jacket pocket and handed the compact to Soteria "what's in here, don't touch it. Don't even breathe it in because small amounts can be deadly." Soteria looked at Coryo as he continued "look, I have seen what war does to people, okay? And there will come a time when you need this."

Soteria nodded as she finally let a tear come down her face. Coryo took his handkerchief and wiped the tear off her face "we are gonna win this, Soteria. We're gonna win this together."

Author's Note:

This is the end of Act One and pretty much the last time we actually like Coriolanus Snow. You'll also notice more of a use of his full name as we get further along. Let me know what you think.