Dying is easy, living is harder

Part 7

"How long do the Games generally last?" Fishlegs asked Ollana.

The others fell silent also wanting to know the answer. Tuffnut shoved a piece of Smotlout's mom's chicken pot pie into his mouth as quickly as possible. He was the only one hungry as everyone else was too nervous to eat. At one today, the Hunger Games are about to begin.

"In general or for your tribute?" Ollana dabbed at her mouth with a napkin.

"For Annie," he gulped.

"Well, she scored an eight and is from District Four, one of the wealthier districts, she's quite pretty... I'd say she'd last five days, if she doesn't get killed in the Bloodbath," she smiled at them. Astrid turned to Ruffnut, the latter mouthed the bloodbath? "That's quite good, you should be proud!"

"Why, you little..." began Annie's father, red in the face. Gobber was already on Stoick leading him out of the room before he could do some damage.

"C'mon Stoick, time for a break."

"What did I say?" Alana asked, eyes wide. Snotlout fists clenched around his fork and knife.

"Pardon me, miss Ollana," Tuffnut began in an over the top Capitol accent, "but may I ask what is the bloodbath? Sounds scary," he said with a large grin.

What was he doing? What if Ollana got offended and left? What if she called people who would block the Capitol channel from them? Astrid twisted around to wordlessly ask Ruffnut what the hell her twin was doing but when the latter met her panicked eyes, she grinned proudly as if he was doing damage control. Astrid only relaxed when she saw that Ollana was indeed flattered.

She laughed an ear irritating high pitch giggle before answering, "the bloodbath is this great big fight that happens on the first day. Usually, the Gamemakers put all the weapons in one spot forcing the tributes to fight for them. It trims down the numbers really nicely so that only the real fighters are left in the action."

Fishlegs face was white. "That's horrible," he breathed.

Ollana rolled her eyes mockingly and met eyes with Astrid. She gave her a look that said can you believe this guy? "Maybe. But the more tributes dead, the closer your friend is to coming home."

As had become the norm since these viewings of the Hunger Games had begun, the anticipation was thick in the air as they waited for it to start. This time though, it was a little different. Annie would for the first time be in mortal danger. She would be placed in some sealed off place where no one would take her out until she died or everyone else died first.

It began with the Capitol Anthem blaring like a Hunger Games intro. Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith welcomed them back on this very exciting day.

They introduced the tributes once more with a small recap of their scores, names and nicknames for some and finally told the audience, "Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour!"

The camera switched to a wide ranging shot of a deserted town that resembled the set of an old Western film like the one that they had used for the end of year party last summer. Small wooden houses, dry fields and lots of flat spaces for filming. This is the arena, she realized.

"Oooh! This is a good one," Ollana cooed. When the others looked at her, she added helpfully, "lots of space for hiding!"

The camera then went on to show the other side of the arena. It scaled from a large forest to an impressive rockface. Once it reached the top of the cliff, it showed some type of dam. It was the type of place she'd be tempted to hike when on trips to Banff with her parents but knew it would be a closed off path for being too dangerous.

Finally, the screen rested on a large shot of weapons and backpacks stacked together against a large rock. It wasn't any modern weapons like guns but a bow and arrow, axes, knives, swords. Primitive weapons for the people that she could tell that the Capitol from Ollana speaking thought primitive compared to them.

This was where it would start then. Caesar went on to explain that this was the Cornucopia and "look at the variety of the weapons".

Tubes elevated from platforms around the Cornucopia and she could see that the tributes were inside them. As the tubes returned down under, it left the tributes vulnerable to each other.

60, 59, 58, 57...

"There she is," Snotlout pointed to the left corner of the television. Annie stood observing everything around her with alertness. She looked ready to bolt. Astrid watched as her dark ponytail blew slightly from the breeze, the ends turning a magnetic green.

"Why doesn't she just run right now. It might be cheating but still... this is a 60 second opening?" Stoick inquired.

"Trust me. You don't want her to do that." Ollana smirked.

32, 31, 30...

The twelve year old boy turned frightened eyes around him before jumping off the platform. Before he even hit the ground, the platform exploded.

Snotlout let out a high pitch scream.

"Oh my god," Astrid whispered as she watched the little boy's body splatter. A leg landed near Grayson who smiled at the sight.

"I'm going to be sick," Fishlegs said, face green.

"There's one every few years," Ollana sighed, eyes stuck on the screen. "They know what will happen, I don't understand why they think it'll be different for them."

They all turned towards her slowly and Ruffnut stood up ready to explode. No one made a move to stop her except Ollana who was still watching the screen and ignoring everything around her.

"The Games are about to start," she chided. "Pay attention! Things are going to be a bit chaotic for a while."

5, 4...

Astrid turned back to the television and watched Annie breathe deeply, face pale. Clearly trying to calm herself down before keeping her eyes straight on the houses. The kid must've thrown her off her game.

3...

She can't believe she is sitting here trying to not think of a child's death after it happened literally 30 seconds ago before her eyes.

A sickening feeling settled into her stomach that wouldn't leave her for a very long time. This Game hasn't even started and it already feels like something has been taken from her. How did Annie do this every year? How does anyone in Panem do this?

2...

She snuck a look at Ollana. And she realized that the Capitol was too numb to care at this point.

Run, Annie, she thought. Run.

1...