Soldier

Part 3

My whole body feels paralyzed. "Come again?"

"Her name should be familiar to you," Beetee says. "She's Ruby Lightman, from District One. Victor of the Forty-Ninth Hunger Games. Maybe you remember her maiden name: Wyatt."

"Ruby Wyatt," I recite.

"Which means Jasper Lightman is your father," Beetee tells me.

I remember Ruby's husband from interviews I've seen. You know how Capitol people love catching up with the victors and their not-so-private lives. Of course, I'm not really a Capitol person. District 1 should be my home. I should've had my name entered into the reaping, every year, for 7 years.

"Beetee," I ask slowly, "You wouldn't mind calling them later... Would you? They'd probably like it better if they hear from a friend before they hear from me."

"Sure, Cressida. But, um..." He begins fidgeting, expression grim. It communicates everything he's too afraid to say.

I recall a news headline from years ago: Hunger Games victor Ruby Lightman grieves the loss of her husband, Jasper Lightman.

"Oh."

Beetee nods somberly. "Jasper's been gone for five years now. Cancer. Doctors have done miraculous things. Still, not everyone survives."

"Sounds like you knew him, too," I remark.

"All of us victors get together sometimes, and she'd bring him along. So, yeah, I knew him."

Why, why did I wait to locate my parents? Now Jasper's just a ghost, a memory passed on to me by his friends and family. Raphael is wonderful, but he can't replace the man responsible for my existence.

"Beetee, I want to see Ruby's Hunger Games highlights, if you have them."

"Okay," he replies. "I'll get that uploaded. I'm warning you, though: people act desperately when their lives are on the line. Please, don't judge her by what she did over thirty years ago."

I sense he's also thinking, don't judge me, either. He doesn't realize that I've watched his Games highlights. Beetee spent a whole day inside a rocky crevice hideout, pacing back and forth. Deciding whether or not he should electrocute his last opponents. Just before he ignited the wires, he very clearly muttered, forgive me.

"I won't," I promise him.
*********************************
Ruby Wyatt's Hunger Games video starts at the reaping. I can spot her instantly, among girls who appear seventeen or eighteen years old. It's plain to see where I inherited my curvy, thin eyebrows, giant blue eyes, and square chin. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd think she was me.

But the escort reaps a different girl's name.

She didn't-

"I volunteer as tribute!" Ruby calls out. She announces her name proudly, like every District 1 tribute who has come before and after her. Her district partner is another volunteer, a guy named Bronx.

Ruby and Bronx start off the tribute parade, wearing fur coats, flashing movie star grins. Both later receive exhibition scores of 10.

When the video cuts to interviews, Ruby goes first.

"So, Miss Wyatt, can you tell us exactly what prompted you to volunteer?" the host asks. He's an unfamiliar man named Seth Malone.

"I'm all about representing my district, and proving myself," Ruby says, flipping her golden hair back. Her turquoise dress glitters against the lights. "Nothing gets me more excited than a little friendly competition."

I have a feeling her answer was rehearsed, but she poises herself so gracefully that nobody seems to mind. She's a natural in front of the camera.

"If you had to choose just one weapon for the duration of the Games, what would it be?"

Ruby giggles. "Well, a knife, obviously. You can use it for anything."

"Any last words for your fellow tributes?"

"I wish everyone good luck... but of course, I fully intend to win."

Then, it goes straight to the arena. It's a vast desert; maroon-colored sand, canyons, and boulders as far as the eye can see.

Ruby springs into action, killing two tributes during the bloodbath. She's mercifully quick about it. Throwing knives at their throats. For the next few days, she allies with Bronx, her district partner, and the District 2 tributes. They're a deadly team. But not as lethal as the arena itself. The heat must be unbearable. Ruby and her group can't seem to find much water, and the Gamemakers even create a drought that lasts twenty-four hours. The District 2 girl becomes the first 'Career' to die after backing into a poisonous cactus. Venomous snakes lurk around every darkened space.

Ruby gets less enthusiastic as time goes on. She avoids major injuries... until the end, when she's near a particularly dangerous canyon. Spiky rocks completely fill the bottom.

Only a single tribute stands in her way. Bronx.

"I should've known it would come down to us," he says, wrapping his fingers around his chosen weapon: the axe.

"Wish it hadn't," Ruby tells him. They're both frozen in place. "How long has it been since we met? Two years?"

"Six."

"Wow. That doesn't seem possible." Neither of them can look at each other. She holds onto her knife with sweaty palms.

They were friends, I realize. Maybe neighbors, too. And they're making sure the Capitol is held accountable.

"So, good luck, Br- AAAAHHHH!"

Bronx has snuck up on Ruby while they talked, and now he's cut her deeply in her left leg. But Ruby doesn't give up. As she falls, she pulls him down with her, stabbing his stomach. They're only a foot away from the jagged canyon. Bronx raises his axe for a second blow, not willing to die so easily.

"I don't mean anything by this," he insists. "Just remember that."

"Same," she replies.

Then, Ruby somehow pushes her district partner off of her- and over the canyon's edge. He's dead almost instantly.

"Oh my gosh," I whisper.

This girl would one day become my mother.

Once I catch my breath, I go to find Beetee. He grabs his phone and dials...

We're really doing this, I think. My birth mother is just a phone call away.

"Hi, Ruby," he says. "It's Beetee."

He listens for her response.

"Well, I have somebody with me who really wants to talk to you," he says.

Another beat of silence.

"I should let her tell you herself," he replies.

I'm trembling as he lends me the phone.

"H... Hello," I mumble.

"Hello. This is Ruby Lightman. Who's calling?"

The sound of her voice nearly brings me to tears; clear as a bell, yet it also has a tinge of melancholy.

"Cressida Dormer," I reply.

There's an extremely long pause. "Did you say Cressida?"

"Yeah. I'm your... your daughter."

"I wondered if you'd ever find me," Ruby confesses. "Listen, I know you have a lot of questions, and I want to give you my full attention. Why don't you come to Victors Village?"

Despite the fact that she left me in someone else's care, I can't help smiling. She really does seem eager to meet. "I was hoping you'd ask."