"Do you think we've come far enough?"
Megan nodded, clutching the spear tightly. She was expecting footsteps around the corner any moment. These roads were random and seemed to lead everywhere at once. She thought they'd been walking for half an hour, but she didn't think they were far enough away from the Cornucopia to be safe from the Careers. Still, she reckoned it was better to stop now, before they got completely lost.
"Well, here's as good as anywhere, I guess," said Vedran, heading towards a house that looked exactly like the others. Megan held out a hand and grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Wait," she said, "This is the Games; you never know that they'll do." With that, she grabbed a rock from the crumbling road and hurled it at a top window. It clattered through. Vedran ducked automatically, thinking that the sound might attract any roaming tributes. There had to be plenty. The cannon had only gone off three times so far.
Nothing happened.
Megan grinned smugly at him. "Just checking, in case they've trapped the house," she explained and he grinned, impressed. He should have known she'd be intelligent, otherwise people wouldn't have tolerated her back home.
"I guess we should go inside then," he said, "It's safer than out here, anyway. As long as we stay away from the windows."
They wandered into the house, Vedran blocking up the door with a little table thing that was lying pointlessly in the front room. It reminded him a little of his own home, and he didn't know if that made him feel better or not. He went through to the kitchen, finding it on the first try, and was surprised to find cans in some of the cupboards.
"Megan, there's food!" he exclaimed happily, checking the view out of the back window. It was a little wood, with the stream running right by the back fence. Running water. "I think we've got the perfect place!" he said excitedly.
"Vedran..." called Megan. She sounded nervous, or at least a bit worried. He slid through to where her voice was coming from; a squat little living room with three beige chairs clustered around a TV screen.
He couldn't help it; he pressed the switch.
Amazingly, the screen flickered into life. Megan fell back from her haunches in shock. Vedran just started at the screen, a disorientated and unpleasant feeling creeping up his back.
They were staring at what looked like an old building site. Thin, wiry bushes poked up through the ground, more like shrubs. The picture was good, and it looked like it was taken from a tree or something because every so often something like leaves would flicker over the top of the screen.
For a few seconds, nothing changed. Then a small shadow stole into view, huddled over a little blue backpack. The camera zoomed in on her insane hair and frowning eyes.
"It's Court!" gasped Megan.
"We're actually...I don't...this shouldn't be possible!" muttered Vedran, searching his head for possible explanations. He found none.
"Why are they letting us?" asked Megan, not expecting an answer, "We can stay here, watch this. We'll know who's allied with who, people's specialities...we shouldn't be allowed to see this."
"Let's not complain," Vedran said. He sat down on the floor, watching the screen with his eyes fixed fast. Megan sat next to him and leant on his shoulder. It was a comfort to have someone else around, especially someone who she knew she could rely on.
On the screen, the scene flickered to Oak, perched high up in a tree overlooking the Cornucopia, then to a different park, where the Careers were lounging about on what looked like playground equipment. It all squeaked badly from lack of use. Tile was spinning round and round, occasionally fluttering her eyes at Dark and Klaus. Amber scowled at her from a swing. Dark was on top of a small tower, keeping lookout, and Klaus was striding up and down, shaking his head every so often.
Something rustled in a tree.
"Did you hear that?" hissed Amber.
"Probably just a bird or something," said Klaus casually, "Nobody would be stupid enough to hang around us." Tile brought the roundabout to a screeching halt.
"Unless it's one of my admirers!" she giggled. Amber rolled her eyes and leapt gracefully off the swing.
"Shut up, Tile," she snapped, "Listen."
The tree rustled again. Amber raised her spear up, pointing at where she guessed the noise was coming from. "Dark, see anything?" she asked. Dark peered into the tree and carried on gouging angry lines into the worn red paint with his fingernail. "Nope, nothing."
"Let's ignore it," said Amber, reaching into her little bag and snatching a handful of berries.
"I wouldn't eat those, if I were you!" suggested a cheerful voice from the tree. They all whirled to face the direction of the voice, Amber holding up her spear threateningly.
"What? Don't believe me? Eat them then, see what happens to you!" A head popped out of the tree, an attractive face with lively hazel eyes; Crete. Amber narrowed her eyes.
"You come and eat them," she insisted.
"Do any of you know anything about plants?" Crete asked, as if he was in a position to negotiate.
"I could knock you out of that tree with one knife!" Dark shouted. Klaus shook his head. He was still seeing Rian. Right now he was lounging on the swing next to Amber's. He was frowning. The little girl, that was it. Rian had never liked it when people killed the defenceless kids. He'd told Klaus it was wrong, that they should be left for the others. But he'd seen blood, and blood meant a kill whoever it came from...
When he remembered the little girl's screams, he felt sick.
"If you've got as much sense as you think you have, you won't!" Crete replied.
"How come?" asked Dark. Amber rolled her eyes. He should have thrown the knife and not taken the bait. "Because your girlfriend there just nearly ate something that would have killed her in minutes; a trick by the Gamemakers, I expect. And none of you guys noticed. I just saved your life," Crete added, with a nod towards Amber. She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him.
This was good, she decided. They could keep him alive, making sure that there was always two people keeping an eye on him. Then, when they'd squeezed plenty of information out of him, they could just get rid of him.
"Fine, you're in," she said. Klaus glowered at her and Tile frowned prettily. Dark toyed with his knife, looking down at her, eyes glinting. She winked again, though it was starting to lose its effect by now. Crete clambered down the tree, jumping the last few feet and striding confidently into the playground. Four pairs of eyes glared at him. His knees were shaking; if he got this wrong he was dead for sure, and very painfully too.
"So, Dark, Amber, Klaus and Tile, right?" he asked conversationally. They nodded. Dark grinned; he'd been put first.
"And you're Crete, correct?" asked Amber in return, sidling over to him. He nodded, "Yup, that's me!" He sounded more confident than he felt. The Careers were splattered with blood already and he had to wonder whose it was. He hoped it wasn't Grace's. She didn't deserve to be tortured by this lot.
"So, Crete, you know a bit about plants?"
He noticed that she had a few spots of blood on her forehead.
"A fair amount, yeah. Enough to stop you poisoning yourself, anyway." Amber didn't appreciate the little jibe and raised her spear so that it glinted menacingly in the sun. Crete gulped. Klaus was hovering behind her, running a hand down the blade of his sword. All he had to defend himself was himself, though he noticed that Amber had a spear.
Behind the Careers, he saw Lizz creeping towards them, eyes fixed on Amber's bag, which had been left by the swings. A window of opportunity. He turned to Amber. "Can I just...?" he began, motioning towards her spear. Dark hissed and took up his knife, ready to throw if Crete looked like trouble. Tile slunk past him with a meaningful grin. Amber shrugged and handed it to him.
"Thank you!" he said, and pushed through them.
Lizz had reached the bag and was starting to root through it. At the silence she looked up; her sharp green eyes went wide and she stood up, flailing her arm around madly but nowhere near him. It was easy for him; one step forwards and jab. Lizz made a choking sound, her hands scrabbling for the spear jutting out of her chest. He tried not to imagine the cry of pain from her sisters.
The cannon went off.
Lizz's whole stick thin body slumped, her head lolling with blood dripping out of her mouth. She reminded Crete of a kind of puppet. He wrenched the spear out of her body and turned back to the Careers, who were looking at him with slightly impressed expressions.
"So," he said, handing Amber her spear back and wiping his hands on his shirt, "Where were we?"
Megan and Vedran watched it all on screen, tributes watching the Games for the first time, amazed and horrified. As Lizz died, Vedran gently took Megan's hand.