87th Games

Quid Pro Quo

“They’ve had too much tragedy. I felt like it was my job to volunteer for him and for their family.” Tuckett smiled briefly but the smile never reached his eyes. I could tell he was scared, but then again we all were.

“Woah” Arrow repeated.

“At least Kalen Everdeen-Mallark is safe now” I stated simply, trying to make Tuckett feel a little bit better about his decision to volunteer for his best friend.

No wonder Tuckett has survived this long in the 87th Games. Nobody in the Capitol would have wanted to wish such a tragedy onto the star-crossed lovers from district 12, let alone their son. The public were rooting for Tuckett, the brave man who saved Katniss and Peeta’s son from being reaped. Besides, there would have been a huge outcry from the whole of Panem if Kalen participated and died during the 87th games. Katniss wouldn’t have allowed it.

We were hanging outside the cornucopia now and the sun was going to rise soon. Trouble was out riding in the valley once she finally decided Tuckett wasn’t a threat to me. God, I loved her. She was a darling. If I ever made it out alive I wanted to take Trouble with me. We could head west and live on the land together, get the hell out of Panem.

We were all sitting there attempting to plan a strong attack against Bloom but admittedly we had become a little side-tracked. I had immense respect for Tuckett now, and the fact he was helping us find and kill bloom. It’s so hard to think there are only four of us left… And only one person can survive.

“So let me make this clear. We’ve come to a complete stalemate, an alliance if you will, and it lasts from now until Bloom is declared dead” Tuckett declared.

I nodded in agreement while Arrow shook Tuckett’s hand. I would have scoffed at the mere thought of a gentleman’s agreement especially during the hunger games; but in this situation it seemed to fit perfectly. We took the oath of Tuckett’s seriously and without question, and he took ours. It was a simple case of quid pro quo.

“We’ll even give you ten seconds to run away” Arrow sniped, elbowing Tuckett in good humour.

“Pfft, you’ll be dead before then” Tuckett replied, pushing Arrow gently. Soon enough, they both started laughing at each other and I couldn’t help but join in. After all, the best and only way to cope with the surety of your impending death was to laugh about it.

“Okay, so how do we get this bullet?” I asked, pulling out the small hand gun from the heap of weapons piled by the door.

“I don’t know” Tuckett said simply.

We both shot him a look.

“Okay” he laughed a little before adding “I guess I just ask?”

We gestured for him get on his way.

“Wow. I feel stupid. Hello? Am I being televised to the Capitol?”

There was a pretty strong chance he was, unless Bloom was doing something terribly interesting. By this time in the games, I had a feeling she wasn’t televised much. Yes, she was a tribute from district one but I bet nobody in Panem really wanted to know about her mental illness and watch her slowly go mad. So unless she had recently turned into some raging cannibal and was eating her own flesh while picking daisies, then there was a large chance my group was being televised a large percent of the time.

“I’m good thanks, how are you?” Tuckett said loudly, attempting to make small talk with the viewers watching from all over Panem.

I grabbed onto the broom nearby and threw it at him. “Hurry up” I ordered.

He snickered a little and so did Arrow. Eugh, a blossoming bromance based solely on annoying me.

“Okay. I need one bullet and it has to fit this gun” he motioned to the gun in my hands and I waved it in the air a little bit.