AS THE PEDESTAL THAT SAGE STOOD ON BEGAN TO RISE, SAGE FELT ALL OF HIS EMOTIONS ABOUT THE GAMES CHANGE. He could physically feel his anxiety and nerves leave him, which surprised him. He expected it to only grow worse, but instead it was replaced with adrenaline and anger that he could feel throughout his entire body. He couldn't lose now, if he lost— Katniss would be right there next year, he was certain of that. Sure she could use a bow, she could climb fairly well, and she had the basic idea about berries and herbs that she could use— but she would still only be twelve. Then what would stop them from putting Prim in the arena too once she was old enough? Nothing. They could do whatever they wanted— they already had. From the way President Snow looked at him, the way he spoke— it wasn't just threats, but a warning even disguised by his smooth tone. For all Sage knew, he wasn't really chosen— another name had been pulled out and Effie just said the name she was supposed to instead. But Sage could barely stand to entertain that idea— Effie didn't fully know what it was like to be in Sage's position, but the way that she treated him and Deedee that morning...she wanted to believe she had no part in staging the reaping.
Sage quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Now obviously wasn't the time for that. So he took a a few deep breaths, each one the air seemed a bit more familiar— a bit more like the fresh air from outside District Twelve out of range from the mines or even the roof garden. He looked upward, and watched as two panels opened— the bright light blinded him for a moment but as he neared the top, he could see a crystal clear sky. Not one single wispy cloud was in sight. Along with the fresh air came humidity, it was thick and hot as soon as it touched his skin— and by the time he began to move through the opening— he felt a slight breeze. Making the weather in the arena almost enjoyable.
As soon as he stood up right, above the ground— his eyes immediately began to dart around to get somewhat of an idea of the arena; the pedestals were in a semi-circle, and around them was water. It was crystal clear, you could see the pebbles at the bottom. The water seemed to cut the arena in half, before him was the bronze cornucopia that was surrounded by white sand with backpacks spread out, and from the looks of it— there were weapons too, and the closer to the cornucopia they got— they bigger the weapons became. Then behind the cornucopia was something just like the year before— a thick forest. They were tall like the ones outside twelve, and from the ones he could see, they had moss and vines on them which made the rock climbing wall with ropes in the gymnasium make sense. Sage glanced behind him, on the other side of the water was the same white sand, but more rocky. And then the trees mirrored what was in front of him.
"Let the sixty-eighth annual Hunger Games..." a voice began, surrounding them— reminding them of where they were. "begin."
With that simple word, begin, Sage couldn't help but think of the cafeteria that Katniss and Prim were probably seated in. With the small television playing because they were required to show the games during breaks, or his father in the mines, or his mother by herself at home, or Ella at school— all of them were watching. Every year he would watch, already feeling sorry for the families of the tributes that were going to be some of the first ones to die. This year he could be one of them...
A circular timer appeared above the cornucopia, beginning to count down from ten. As it did, the arena was filled with the sound of a loud explosion that shook the ground beneath them violently. Nearly knocking Sage from the circular piece of metal.
Sage instantly crouched down, gripping the pedestal— with both of his hands. His breath got caught in his throat. As he did a wave of water crashed into him— his eyes looked to the side only to find that the pedestal that had been beside him was gone, and so was the tribute. On the other side, Sage watched as the boy from nine— who hadn't crouched down like Sage fell into the water as the wave of water crashed into him. As soon as his body hit the water— there was a second explosion and he was gone. Sage stared in their direction, the games hadn't even started and there were already two tributes gone.
Sage's eyes watched a smaller wave from the second explosion come towards him. It didn't hit him very hard, but he watched as Marena crouched down like him on the other side— braced for a wave that could have knocked her off of her pedestal. He watched her, hoping that she was able to hold on— she nearly fell but she caught herself just before she slid off the pedestal. As soon as the water began to settle, Marena looked back up towards the cornucopia again. Sage did the same— just in time for the gong to go off. Signaling that their ten seconds were over.
Sage launched himself into the water that was deeper than he had anticipated. It wasn't extremely deep, but it went up to his thighs— and it made it a bit more difficult to run to the white sand. The sound of splashing came from both sides as all of the other tributes hurried towards the shore. Sage was thankful for the fact that he could take longer strides than the others because he made it to the white sand before a handful of other tributes. As he did, he hurried towards a backpack and swooped it up onto his shoulder as yelling and a ear splitting scream— his eyes darted towards the screaming to see Jules standing up from being over a body of a girl who laid completely still. Sage quickly moved his eyes to the cornucopia where he saw exactly what he needed, almost as if it was set there with a spotlight on it just for him.
A sleek black bow and arrow, with a pouch of arrows sitting beside it.
Sage began to run towards it, another scream filling his ears. But this time he didn't stop to observe it— his eyes were fixated only on the bow propped against the entrance to the cornucopia. As he ran, he could hear the chaos around him, but it was like he was underwater. Louder than the yelling and screaming was his own heartbeat and his uneven breathing.
As he got to the cornucopia, Sage reached down for the bow and scrambled to put the pouch over the opposite shoulder than his backpack— the way he carried his supplies wasn't ideal, but it would have to work for now. As soon as he went to turn around to find Marena, Deedee, or Boyde— someone slammed into him. Their head hitting his chest so hard that it knocked the air right out of him, stunning him until he saw the face of Ryder— the boy from four that Marena didn't speak very highly off. Ryder brought his fist down against Sage's face with so much force that Sage could have sworn he felt something crack in his face. Ryder drew his hand back again, only for him to completely stop and fall limp— Sage's eyes were wide as he watched Ryder's body get pushed off of him. His body fell with a thud beside Sage, his face landed facing Sage— and he couldn't look away from the vacant look in his eyes, and the blood that began to seep out of his mouth.
"Sage, come on!"
Boyde bent down and pulled his knife from the back of Ryders' neck. Boyde reached out and grabbed Sage's arm and pulled him up. Boyde began running, and Sage stayed close behind him. The two of them ran behind the cornucopia and towards the thick trees that were there. The ground changed from sand to dirt with a thin layer of grass— Sage didn't notice much else of their surroundings. His only concern was getting as far from the cornucopia as possible. The fact that he had come close to being one of the first fallen tributes not entirely sinking in yet.
Finally, Boyde came to a stop— both of them gasping for air, which didn't come easy thanks to the thick humidity in the air. The humidity in the air felt a bit painful even going into Sage's lungs. Boyde leaned against a near by tree, still catching his breath as he dropped his backpack to the ground by his feet.
"You're welcome..." he said breathlessly, pointing his bloody knife towards Sage. "now you owe me..."
Sage nodded, his mouth was dry from his panting. "Yeah...yeah, I do..." he replied, lowering his backpack to the ground like Boyde and then swung his pouch of arrows over his chest so his pouch sat along his back and he could put his pack on too once he was ready to.
"Did you see Marena?" Boyde questioned as he slid his back down the tree.
Before Sage could answer a gong echoed through the arena, followed by another— in total five gongs went off. Meaning there was five less tributes still alive.
"Ryder, the boy from eleven...I think the girl from eight..." Boyde listed off, leaving two of the gongs for the two tributes who had fallen from their pedestals.
"Marena and Deedee are still out there then..." Sage said, beginning to catch his breath.
Sage was a bit relieved as he stood there with Boyde— he made it out of the bloodbath. Which was more than a lot of Twelves past tributes could say. And there were nineteen tributes left, including him— and his entire alliance.
"What did you get in your pack?" Sage questioned, finally bending down to check inside his own. Boyde did the same.
The first thing Sage pulled out was a green tarp that was rolled up with elastic straps holding it together in its tight form. Beneath it was a pack of matches. And in the smaller pocket was a small carving knife.
"Rope, some matches, and some ointment."
Sage looked up at Boyde's supplies, the rope could be useful with Sage's tarp.
"I got matches, a knife, and a tarp." Sage replied.
"Not bad between the two of us," he replied before holding his hand out to Sage. In it was the tube of ointment he had gotten. "you should put some of this on your cheek. You don't want that getting infected this early in here."
Sage had forgotten about the sharp pain in his cheekbone where Ryder had punched him. The adrenaline afterwords, and seeing Ryder lifeless beside him— it was numbing. Sage gently touched the place where he had been hit, he could feel like cut and at the slightest touch it made that whole area on his face throb.
"Thanks," Sage said as he took the tube from him, his eyes scanned the label— ANTIBACTERIAL OINTMENT was in bold black letters. So he got a little bit on his fingers and began to dab it onto his cheek before he handed it back to Boyde.
"Come on," Boyde said as soon as Sage began to wipe the extra ointment off on his pants. "we should keep moving, and find Marena and Deedee."
Sage nodded in agreement and rose to his feet after repacking his supplies in his backpack. Sage and Boyde made their way through the trees— and Sage took it all in. Observing what was around them now that they weren't running from the bloodbath. The base of a majority of the trees were covered with moss, and there were roots that bulged out from the ground, making plenty of tripping hazards. He could hear birds chirping in the trees's. Everything sounded a lot like the woods outside Twelve, but he knew it wasn't.
"How old are your sisters back home?" Boyde questioned.
"Ten and six," Sage replied, "how about you? Siblings?"
Boyde shook his head, "Nope, cousin though. He's seven. My parents took him in after his parents died a few years ago."
"How'd they die?"
"Smallpox when it went through Two."
"My sister had that last year," Sage told him, "we burned through a lot of supplies since none of us could go to work or anything since we all had to wait to see if we'd catch it too." he explained. "I entered extra this year to try and make up for it."
Sage wished that was why he was in the arena. He wished it was because he had entered his name more than he had to. That it genuinely had been just bad luck that landed him there.
"Well, aren't you lucky then." Boyde chuckled, "Getting picked this year."
AUTHORS NOTE;
Thank You so much for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think!!
Stay classy!
*edited*