ELEVEN

THE GAMES BEGIN

Talia was awoken before the sun had even risen, Finnick had shaken her shoulder with a firm hand and told her to dress in the simple grey sweater and sweatpants provided along with white trainers. She gets up, leaving her hair down as she changes in the privacy of her room. She brushes her teeth for what would be the final time for God know how long and she exits the room, taking one last glance at the beach projection that stretched across the windows.

She walks with Ethan, wearing the same clothes as her, to the elevator and they're taken to the roof of the training centre. The other tributes are boarding the hovercraft and Talia feels her heart pounding as Finnick turns to her.

"I'll see you when you win," He says and Talia blinks away the tears in her eyes as she throws her arms round his shoulders, hugging him tightly. The other tributes scoff at the weak act and he hugs her back, pressing her tiny body against his muscled one.

"I'll see you when I win," She breathes against his ear, it makes his spine tingle and as she pulls away he nods to her.

"Make District 4 proud, little bird," He says and the nickname rocks her, he'd always called her Talia and she can barely hold her tears as she follows Ethan onto the hovercraft, she doesn't dare look back at Finnick as she takes her seat beside Aldar, Ethan on her other side.

Within a few minutes the rest of the tributes are all boarded and strapped into their seats, all of them wearing the same clothes as Talia. A woman goes around injecting a tracker into all of their arms, and when she comes to Talia, the skinny little girl already has her sleeve rolled up and ready. The injection stings and she sees the tracker glow in her arm before it fades- now the Gamemakers would see her every step in the arena.

It takes an hour to reach wherever they were headed and the hovercraft landed underground, as not to give away the arena. The tributes and they're stylists are each sent to a room alone and the doors are locked behind them.

Two tables are filled with food and drinks and as Talia looks at the delicacies on offer she feels like she might vomit.

"As much as you may not want to, it might be an idea to eat," Aldar says, sitting down on one of the sofas. Talia nods, taking two slices of plain toast and forcing them down alongside a glass of water. This might be her last meal and she'd opted for toast, the thought made her smirk to herself.

After about 30 minutes her clothes arrive, handed to Aldar by a Peacekeeper and as the door closes and Aldar turns to face her, she sees the frown on his lips.

"What is it?" She asks, standing up.

"These clothes...They're very specific," He says, placing them down on the low standing table.

"Okay, well...At least I'll be prepared for whats up there," Talia says, cocking her head towards the cylinder that would later transport her into the arena.

"Shall we?" He asks, and she nods. She picks up the clothes and Aldar turns away as she changes. A thermal vest, a tight grey jumper, thick grey cargo trousers that tucked into black leather boots, her socks were thermal too, designed to keep her warm.

"Its going to be cold, then," Talia says, looking at the clothes as Aldar inspects the coat provided.

"Indeed, this coat is somehow both heat concealing and streamlined," Aldar says, "A brilliant piece,"

Talia sighs as he helps her put it on and suddenly the speakers announce that the tributes have one minute before they're entering the arena.

Talia gulps, he hands shaking as Aldar reaches into his pocket and reveals Talia's necklace, he places it round her neck and tucks it under her jumper.

"Thank you," Talia smiles and Aldar does up the zipper of her coat and pulls the girl into a hug.

"Go show them what you can do, show them what a delicate, skinny, little girl can do," He says, smiling at her, "Talia Riverthorn, you go up there and you win,"

"I'll do my best," Talia says as she moves back, a 30 second countdown echoes around the room.

Talia turns and steps into the cylinder, her heart pounding against her chest. As the counter reached 10, the cylinder closed around her and she lifts her hand to the glass, "Thank you," She mouths and Aldar nods.

The cylinder rises up and her eyes sting as she blinks to adjust to the sudden light. And as she reaches the top and the arena comes into view she feels her lips part. The golden cornucopia was glistening in early afternoon light, and surrounding it? Snow.

Behind the cornucopia, looming over the whole arena, a huge, snowcapped mountain, the rock grey like Talia's clothes. She readies her stance as she looks over her shoulder, behind her a forest of snow covered trees, luckily their leaves were still on them- they'd make for good cover. Her head flicks to the right, more forest and finally to the left, a frozen over lake. 

The voice echoes around the arena, counting down to the sound of the gong. Talia clenches her fists, spreading her feet as she prepares to run, she could see the weapons lining the edge of the cornucopia, but even she knew the best things were inside, but it was dangerous to attempt such a thing. She spotted a plain grey backpack and set of 3 knives resting against a snow covered boulder and she set her focus on that, ignoring the other tributes either side of her.

The gong sounds and she jumps into action, sprinting across the snow covered grass, it wasn't deep, but she imagined it would get deeper as the days went on. She sees another tribute rushing in the same direction as her and as she reaches the backpack she grabs it up in her hands, swinging it over one shoulder, she grabs the belt of knives, only to be shoved aside.

The female tribute who had been running alongside her had caught up. The girl clambers on top of Talia, snatching at the belt of knives and Talia fumbles to grab one from its sheath, the girl on top of her grabs one as lifts it up above Talia's chest, but before she can strike a sword pierces through her chest. Talia gasps, pulling one of the knives free at last, the medium sized one of the trio. Her saviour pulls the other tribute off her and Talia's eyes widen at the sight of Darius Reed, standing over her with the sword covered in sticky, scarlet blood.

"Get up and run," He orders and Talia crawls backwards before getting onto her feet and running, not caring about leaving the other two knives behind.

She rushes for the trees, her feet pounding against the floor. She looks over her shoulder and sees no one following her, so she pauses just inside the tree line and assesses the scene in front of her, she could see bodies lying on the grass, light snow falling against their skin, blood bright against the plain backdrop. And there, cutting into them all- the careers, District 1, 2 and Ethan. Darius had left, run off towards the other side of the forest, a backpack in his grip and the sword he'd used to kill the tribute on top of Talia.

Finally, she turns, running as fast as she can through the trees, her lungs burning, her feet meet grass untouched by snow and she can barely stop herself from tumbling over the edge of the ground, a sudden drop would take her to a fresh running river. She slides down the hill and reaches the river, she glances around her- it was dangerous to be so out in the open she needed to breathe, to gather herself.

She pulls off her backpack, dipping her hands inside and finding a metal water bottle alongside filters, a long piece of rope and one small pack of dried meat, by the looks of it pork. Talia sighs, checking out the knife, the blade was about 5 inches long, rugged on one side and smooth on the other, the handle was strong and fit perfectly into her hand. As she dips her waterbottle into the river she hears the cannon boom, it makes her jump, and she grabs her chest and lets out a sigh of relief after realising what it is. 11 booms, 11 people dead, and thankfully, Talia wasn't one of them. If 11 were dead, it left 12 other tributes. 12 other people stood in front of Talia and her getting home, and in that moment, as she looked out across the beautiful arena, she decided she'd give this her all.

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those are some thicc paragraphs & i apologise for them tbh

thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed!

~lachys-loch
❤️