The Games We Play

Career Pack

"What do we do with these boxes?" I heard Marvel call out to us. "Do you guys want to divide them?" He held up a pack of apples, "I get dibs on these."

Cato looked up from his crouching position by the Cornucopia and shook his head, "Leave them alone. We don't want to divide them already." I could hear the words he refused to say. He doesn't want to divide them any time in the Games because he was sure that not everyone in the Career Pack would survive. The supplies, if divided, would dwindle and we are not sure how long this Game would last. These supplies were only for the Careers who would survive till the end.

"I agree." I spoke up and sat down cross-legged on the grass, "Let's set up camp here. We don't have to divide those."

Cato stood up and nodded, "Let's set up camp. There are eleven who died in the Bloodbath, I don't think it'll be fun to wipe out the field early on." He was the leader of the pack and nobody dared to speak against him and his leadership. Glimmer would follow him like a dog and Cato seemed like he was enjoying the attention.

I don't know if Glimmer know this is an act. I don't even know if Cato was really enjoying this but I knew him well to doubt that he wasn't using this to his full advantage in the Games. Glimmer looked lovesick. I know that look. This is the look that most girls give Cato back in the District. There were actually so many. He would walk around the Training Center and the trainees there would give him lasting glances. I was actually busy hating him then. He was everything I wasn't.

The whole afternoon, we tried to cover as much land as we could. Like me, the other Careers were a bit hesitant to enter the forest. This was one of our weaknesses, I thought silently as I watched Cato and Glimmer emerge from the couple of trees. They were laughing but they clearly did not have any luck on finding other tributes. I seated myself by the mouth of the Cornucopia and was only looking around.

Cato and Glimmer continued to converse about their favorite Games and their favorite deaths. Marvel was polishing his spear and was looking wistfully up at the other two. Jeany was silent, she had been murmuring earlier to herself. She probably went crazy now. Our new addition, Peeta, was looking very bruised and was nursing his bloody arm. Cato entrusted him with a knife and I nearly talked his ear off by allowing Twelve to hold a weapon but I caught his eyes.

"Watch him." He mouthed and I shrugged as a response.

I busied myself by cleaning blood off my new set of knives. I had lined them up in my jacket. It was surprising that they made my jacket like this but I thought about what I had been showing throughout our training. They must have thought I needed this.

It was hours when we all looked up when we heard the anthem of Panem being played. The dead will be revealed to us and we get to count each one. I was not all that interested in watching the faces of all those who died because they were gone. My eyes went towards my hands, which were stained by dried blood I had tried to take off of my knives. Immediately, I tried to rub them off my skin.

The sight made me realize that at that moment, I was a killer. I had been responsible for killing at least three people in the Bloodbath and I do not know how I feel about it exactly. It was a mix of emotions...but I knew I shouldn't linger on them for a long time. Killing is inevitable so I knew I had to get over this feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach. This was the only way I could get out of this arena alive.

"Look! Smoke." Peeta spoke up as he stood and pointed out to us a smoke rising from a distance.

It was either that tribute is looking for actual trouble or just plain stupid. I stood up and took my flashlight from my bag as the others did. I looked up to see Glimmer smirking at Cato, the latter had his Game face on. "Come on. Let's get him." He said as we set off to the source of fire.