Twenty Four Shades of Blood [A Hunger Games Fanfic]

The Countdown - Day One of Training

Sokka catches her staring and glares back, hating the way she makes him feel inferior.  He’s just as good as them, better than some, no doubt.  He feels a little thrill of victory as, after a few minutes of glaring, her gaze drops.  He’s bigger and older than her, and that’s got to count for something.

They’ve been so wrapped up in their little hate contest that they don’t realise the woman is finishing up her speech.

“And that covers all the basics.  Remember, fighting amongst yourselves will not be tolerated in any form.  That is what the instructors are for.  Good luck, tributes.  May the odds be ever in your favour.”

This ending earns her an eye roll and a quiet sigh from Oswin.  She can’t help it, the saying was so archaic and overused. No matter how many times it is trotted out, it never makes one scrap of difference to, well, anything at all. None of them ever mean it anyway, it's just a slogan used for their own benefit. The girl beside her gives a little smile and holds out her hand as the rest of the tributes began to disperse.

“Hi there!" she announces brightly, "I’m Abigail.  You’re Oswin, right?  The bookworm?”

They shake hands, Oswin thinking how small Abigail is, Abigail maintaining the cheerful smile on her face, even though she isn’t really sure what to make of the older girl. She seems to be listening, just to something else. There is an awkward pause, which Oswin breaks. She can't just sit here silently. And she has to admire the girl for coming to talk to her, despite the age difference, despite the fact they will be fighting against each other soon.

“So, what are you going to try first?”

She isn’t sure why she cares, but she has an oddly protective feeling towards this young girl.  She knows it's dangerous to make friends with other tributes. But...Abigail doesn't seem like much of a threat, not at this stage.  She's watching the Careers with an annoyed expression that it looks like she's used to wearing.

“I wanted to try some of the weapons” she said, her tone peevish.  “But those chunks of meat are hogging them.  So maybe I’ll give the plants section a look.  Want to come?” 

She heads off, leaving Oswin to trail after her, still feeling a little unsure.

The rest of the morning passes without incident, apart from an occasional scuffle between Basilius and Austin.  Both boys are competing for the role of pack leader, and neither is willing to give much ground. The trainers are watching this with greedy interest. It’s not illegal for them to bet (although it’s frowned on), and they’re already calculating odds of how long the alliance will hold together.  The smart money is on five days. The siren announcing lunch sounds, the noise echoing around the cavernous room. Some of the younger tributes jump. The older ones brush it off and try not to look like they were too startled.

The real drama strikes at lunchtime.  Ellie is just getting her meal from the long buffet style table, alongside Ryan, who has been moaning to anyone who will listen about how the humidity in the training room is making his hair go stringy. The usually buoyant Ellie is sick of it already. He should try living in Nine; then he wouldn't care about humidity. And isn't there a lot of water in Four anyway?

Still maintaining her usual smile, she reaches the cutlery, fantisizing briefly to herself about using the knife on Ryan in a way that will make him shut up.

She’s just reaching for a spoon to serve her potato when her hand brushes against his for a moment.  She glances up at him, the physical contact a rude shock after so long without any at all.  Ryan lets out a strange sort of yelp, his eyes flying wide open as he jerks his hand away dramatically, the contents of his loaded plate splattering messily onto the floor.

“Get your hands off me!”

Ellie flinches back from him, scuttling out of the way and dropping her tray as she does so.  The bright green and red vegetables stain across her white trainers, the juice soaking in quickly. The guards around the room look up at the shout, frowns already settling in on Capitol-smooth foreheads. Disruptions like this aren’t allowed. Most of the guards still remember the year they let something like this slide, and that hadn’t ended well. No-one wanted to have to go through the process again of reaping new tributes to replace the ones that had been killed.

“What’s the issue here?” booms one of them, a big man with a scar over his right temple, the only reminder of one - now dead - particularly nasty District One boy.  Ryan points a dramatic finger a Ellie, pressed up to the trolley with a hand clamped over her mouth and her face suddenly a lot paler. The room is silent, waiting to hear this. Austen and the twins from Two lean in eagerly; in the short space of time they've had to know Ryan, they've already got their own ideas about what to expect. Ruby sighs and tips her eyes to the ceiling in an imitation of patience. He's lucky he's a Career.

“She’s flirting with me!  Touching me and brushing my hands!  When she knows I’m taken!  She’s just trying to distract me with her feminine wiles!”

The silence, at first curious, has quickly morphed into awkward. Everyone has stopped eating and is staring with incredulity at the animated Ryan, whose face is flushed.  Ellie stares nervously at the floor, unsure of how to respond. Inside, she’s one big indignant scream, but she holds it in. There's no point in making a bigger fool of herself. But she won’t forget this. He’s just painted a huge target on them both – Ellie can see the twins from Two staring at her with cold eyes - and she knows the bulk of that target is resting squarely on her thin, non-Career shoulders.

Thom looks at Ryan with an odd feeling of disgust. How someone could be so dramatic, he’s not sure. Maybe it's the life in Four. He's heard they're pampered there. They certainly look it; well-built, shining with good health unlike him and the other lower district tributes. It’s obvious the girl hadn’t meant to do anything by the way she’s cringing, and she’s only twelve!  Can’t he see he’s just making a fool of himself? 

The guards pull Ryan away from Ellie, giving him a curt “sit down, shut up and eat” as they do so.  Still scowling, he makes his way over to where Star is sitting, at a table as close to the Career group as possible.  Most people expect District Four to join the alliance, but this year is different, somehow. The tributes from One and Two haven’t rejected them, and yet…there’s a strange feeling of disharmony hovering between them. This year’s Career alliance is certainly anything but ordinary, if ordinary is ever a word that one could associate with a bunch of teenagers trained up to kill. Ruby is glaring at Ryan. He’s going to make them look ridiculous.  She doesn’t want to be here, having to go through all this charade, at all, much less with a drama queen like him to make her life worse than it already is.

Ryan chews his meal, still buzzing with indignation. No-one gets it, what it’s like to be him.  The pressure, the stress, no-one appreciates how hard it is to be this fabulous.

The guards return to their places, and silence reigns again.  No-one notices Ellie, who is hunched in a corner by herself staring at the bright stains on her shoes. One single angry tear drips on to her lap. This is not over. Not by a long shot.