This was it. Jaemin held back tears as he watched Jeno hug Jeonghan tightly. He had already hugged the escort whispering words of thanks as the older silently cried on his shoulder. Jeongyeon had refused to come down to the hangar with them, so they had said their goodbyes to her in the apartment. Jaemin understood her reluctance, he knew she didn't want to believe that she was waving away another lot of tributes who will die soon after. He also knew that she didn't want to be reminded of her own games, the emotional trauma from simply being taken to the arena was probably more than enough to keep Jeongyeon away.
Jeonghan was pulled away from Jeno by a large security guard and ushered out of the hangar. Jaemin kept his eyes fixed on his back until he could no longer see him and then he was moved onto the hovercraft with the other tributes, strapped into his seat and injected with a tracker. He felt his leg bounce up and down in anticipation and grabbed a hold of Jeno's hand, squeezing it in hope of gaining comfort. The action calmed him a little but all in all, a little hand holding was not going to benefit him in the arena at all.
Jaemin could feel an intense gaze fixed on his and Jeno's interlocked hands and he looked to find Mark glaring at Jeno. Why, he was unsure, but he ignored the Career. In a matter of minutes they would be enemies. Jaemin hated the idea. Mark had done so much for him, even if they had only known each other for a matter of days Jaemin felt connected to the older. He just hoped that they wouldn't meet in the arena, that Mark wouldn't be the one to kill him, or vice versa.
Before Jaemin knew it he was standing in a tube, with Kai tearfully watching him. The stylist had come to help him put on his clothes for the arena and analyse what kind of conditions he could be facing. Jaemin had a plain grey t-shirt on with khaki coloured hiking trousers. A pair of brown walking boots and a grey raincoat accompanied his outfit. Kai had mentioned maybe a forest setting or anything with lots of greenery, and Jaemin hoped he was right. He thrived in woodland so being thrown into a setting he knew and was familiar with would only benefit him.
Suddenly the platform he was standing on began to ascend and Jaemin frantically looked at Kai for some sort of an explanation but the stylist simply broke down into sobs that Jaemin could not hear. That was when Jaemin knew, it was time. The platform kept moving upwards and Jaemin had to cover his eyes with his hands as fierce sunlight beat down onto him. The platform stopped moving and Jaemin removed his hands to take in his surroundings. In front of him a huge metal structure in the shape of a horn was positioned in the middle of the ring of tributes. A few bags and other materials that Jaemin couldn't make out were scattered nearer to him.
He rapidly looked around for his allies. The nearest person to him was Renjun. The two made eye contact and nodded to each other. Jaemin knew that Doyoung and the others would know what to do, but that didn't make him any less nervous. Any of the other tributes could kill one of them without even thinking. Unfortunately Jaemin noticed that he was on the podium next to Lee Taeyong, who most certainly would happily get rid of him. But Jaemin shook away the anxiety, remembering what Jeongyeon had told him. The careers nearly always go straight for the weapons in the centre of the Cornucopia, so as long as he and the others grabbed the nearest bag or tool to them and ran, they would be fine.
It was only then that Jaemin looked away, taking in the derelict buildings around them. Kai was wrong, their arena was not a forest. It appeared to be an abandoned city, with massive brick structures obscuring Jaemin from being able to look further away from the Cornucopia. The ground was sandy, with bits of fallen brick and metal lying across the paths. The buildings themselves were crumbling and from what Jaemin could see, offered little shelter from the boiling heat of the sun.
