Heart of Gold • Finnick Odair

-15-

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Sixty-sixth Hunger Games begin!"

We are required to wait on our metal circles for sixty seconds before the gong releases us. Step off too early, and you're blown to pieces.

I look around me, searching for my friend. I notice his dark skin three people across from me, he gestures his head backwards as if to say 'ready to run?' I nod.

I take this time to assess my surroundings. In the centre is the dreaded Cornucopia where the most deaths take place, the bloodbath, but is also where the best items are. I spot that from the centre to the plates we stand on, there are backpacks. The largest being closer to the Cornucopia and the smallest being closer to us Tributes. Surrounding us is a green sea of trees, nothing else, and the sky is a questioning grey colour with a hint of lime green swirling inside.

I set my eyes on a blue, decent sized, bag just less than a third way between me and the silver Cornucopia horn.

I prepare myself to run.

The gong rings out.

I run like my life depends on it, because it does, and I reach the bag in no time. As I'm turning to run towards the safety of trees, careful to be observant of my surroundings, I notice that a few tributes have only just moved from their platforms. Possibly distracted by taking in their surroundings and opponents. Dodging a knife being thrown at me, I make it safely to the forest. The knife had grazed my leg, cutting through the thin material at my thigh, but I ignore the pain and just run through the trees in the direction Ralph was near.

After a minute of running, I slow down to a steady jog as I look for any signs of my friend. I notice the jabberjays above my head and whistle my four-note tune, usually used to signal the end of a work day, to let Ralph know it's me whilst whispering, "come on", under my breath. I keep jogging as the birds repeat my song until I hear a rustle behind a bunch of bushes, I turn sharply to see Ralph appear from within them. Without a second thought I throw my arms around him, grateful that he got out okay and I feel his arms wrap around my waist tightly.

The trees cover us from the burning sun but the heat still causes me to unzip my coat and roll up the sleeves. We sit behind a tree, covered by the bushes, and go through my bag. There's two knives, one I give to Ralph and one I keep myself, some packets of dry meat, some crackers, an empty flask for water, a bag containing a small roll of bandages and some rope. Ralph shoves the safely edible berries he had gathered into the front pocket of the bag as I set up a small snare with the rope. After some fiddling, I've successfully made a decent snare and shoved it in the bag. I cover the bright blue of the bag in wet mud and throw it over my shoulder as we head further into the forest.

Ralph dug his hand into the mud and swiped it onto my cheek. I turn to him with a shocked expression, "hey!" I laugh as I ruffle his hair with my dirty hands.

"No, no! Not the hair," he hissed quietly with a small smile.

"Oh no, the precious hair!" I mimicked, shoving him in the shoulder.

We find a tree that is easy enough for Ralph to climb but too hard for the majority of the others to attempt, it also has a thick layer of leaves to cover us from unobservant eyes.

Whilst Ralph climbs, I set up our snare in hopes to catch us some tea before following him up into the hidden section of the tree. I let Ralph take the thicker branch as I perch comfortably on a slimmer one beside him, I feel safe up here, almost as if it's a normal work day back home.

The first cannon sounds, each one representing a dead child, meaning that the fighting at the Cornucopia had finally stopped and the killers must've dispersed. I can see through the leaves that the hovercrafts were lifting the bodies to take them away. 12 cannons, already half of the tributes are dead.

"What happened," Ralph gestures to my leg. He removes his arm from one of his coat sleeves to rip some material off his long sleeved shirt before putting his coat back on. He holds the material to my leg to try stop the bleeding as I tell him a knife grazed me.

The chime of a sponsor was followed by a silver casing falling through the sky by a parachute. 

I open it to reveal a small tub of medicine with a gel-like substance in it. There was a note too, 'Apply generously and keep it up -C'

I pass the tub to Ralph and he starts to apply it to my wound, making me flinch, "sorry, does that hurt?"

I reply through gritted teeth as Ralph lets out a low chuckle, "what do you think."

"Sorry, Rosie."

We rest for a minute and eat the berries Ralph had gathered before we climb down the tree to check the snare.

The trap seems to be empty but I hear a sound from besides us. A groosling, a type of wild turkey. The groosling has delicious meat that's so fatty, the grease drips down your face when you bite into it. In District 11, flocks of the birds sometimes roam into the orchards, which the workers catch and eat for lunch.

As it's late afternoon, we decide to light a fire to cook the meat as dusk will help hide the smoke, as long as we put it out before nightfall. Ralph makes the fire as I go hunt for another bird with my knife. I manage to find one more and give it to my ally to cook.

I take the bandages out of the bag they were in and put the spare groosling in it instead, placing the bandages freely in the bag.

We feast on our meat, put out the fire, and continue our search for water. After a long, unsuccessful walk, the sky turns dark so we decide to call it a night. We climb up a decent tree and get comfortable for the night. I undue the snare and cut the rope in half to use to tie ourselves to the tree in case we turn over in our sleep. I hand one piece to Ralph who copies my actions as I tie the rope around myself and the branch for stability.

In the night sky, the faces and District numbers of the dead are presented in the sky. 13 dead, another must've died during the day without us noticing.

The female from District 2, both from District 3, the female from District 4, the male from District 5, the male from District 6, the female from District 7, the male from District 8, both from District 9, both from District 10, and the female from District 12.

This meant that there were only four Careers left as the girl from 2 and the girl from 4 had both been killed, but by who, or what?