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BY THE TIME THE FIVE make it to the giant tree and climb down the wall, the sun is beginning to set. From their place above the entire arena, they got a good view of how it was set up. There seemed to be only four main areas of importance.. Contrary to prior belief the cornucopia was not in the center but instead on the far right of the maze. Any tribute who took the far right exit from the bloodbath like them would most likely be met with multiple dead ends or the spider that would force them back into the cornucopia. Luckily for them they took the smarter route and went over the arena and could now go around the cornucopia no problem. The tree they had seen was on the backside of the cornucopia. They wouldn't have to cross the entire arena to reach it so it seemed like their best bet. On the front side of the cornucopia and the left side Blaze imagined there were other fields that held some importance, but what they were she had no idea.
The field they dropped into was a beautiful meadow with a giant willow tree that sat in the center. The low hanging leaves on the drooping branches provided perfect cover to create a camp for the night. There was a pond that sat to the left of the tree and they all sighed in relief knowing that they could rehydrate here and maybe find some food. If there were any animals in this arena, this is where they would go.
They spread out their sleeping bags and made a circle in the grass under the tree. Blaze was in between Ryker and Valour, the latter completely silent after their run in with the giant spider. Blaze put a hand on her shoulder and the blonde girl looked up at her through teary lashes. Her eyes were bloodshot by now, the girl most likely crying silently during the hours it took for them to get to the pond.
"I'm sorry about Apollo."
Valour shook her head and got into her sleeping bag. "I don't give a shit. I'm just mad he died before we even got close to the end of this. What a disgrace. How am I supposed to get sponsors now if they think I'm as weak as he was?"
Blaze shrugged her shoulders not knowing how to answer that. She couldn't believe that Valour was crying over sponsors instead of Apollo right now. She couldn't even imagine how she would react if that was her and Ryker in their position, but she would never be as heartless as Valour was right now.
Blaze was beginning to understand what Ryker meant by her lack of morality. She was seeing it first hand with Valour and Blaze felt a shudder run through her. Was that how she sounded? Not even caring about others and simply looking out for herself and winning these games.
A tap on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts and she turned to see Ripley crouching in front of her. "Dylan and I are going to go fill the bottles and maybe try and fish. Did you want me to fill yours?"
Blaze smiled lightly at her and nodded. "Sure, but I'll come with you and help. Three hands are better than two." In all honesty, Blaze needed some space from Valour and her attitude. Maybe if the girl had some time to think she would actually take some time to mourn her district partner. After all everyone had their coping mechanism and Blaze hoped that Valour was just displaying hers.
Blaze, Ripley, and Dylan spent about an hour fishing in the large pond. Ripley taught Blaze how to spear a fish easily and Blaze found herself laughing with the district four girl everytime she completely missed a fish. Blaze was awful when they first started but by the time the hour was up she was jabbing Valour's spear into the body of a medium sized fish and lifting its flopping body out of the water. "Yes," Ripley cheered and she clapped her hands as Blaze handed her the now dead fish. "Wow and this is a big one. You're a natural. Maybe they should hire you on the fishing boats back home."
Blaze laughed at that and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear that had fallen from her ponytail. "I wouldn't go that far. I'm pretty sure it takes way more skill to fish in the actual ocean. But you're a great teacher."
Ripley blushed and took the spear from Blaze's hands to catch another fish. "I teach lessons down at the cove back home. Most of the adults don't have the time to train the younger children so I volunteer. It gives me something to do so I like it."
Blaze nodded, surprised at how much she actually enjoyed talking to Ripley. She couldn't deny she disliked the girl until now, but Blaze realized that maybe she was projecting her feelings for Ripley's mentor onto her.
Once they had a decent amount of food they filled up everyone's water and purified them before coming back to sit in the circle. Ryker smiled at her and Ripley who were for once having a friendly conversation and he felt proud as he helped Dylan divide the fish.
Valour wanted them to cook the fish over a fire, seeming to think that even if the fire drew other tributes to their location they were better than anyone else in this arena and could kill them easily. Everyone else disagreed causing the girl to gloat as she bit into her raw dinner. Blaze grimaced at the bland taste of the raw fish but persisted knowing that she had to eat something to keep up her energy.
The tributes packed up the leftover fish and stored enough for each of them away in their individual packs. Ripley would be first on watch tonight and Blaze gave her a warm smile and goodnight before she laid down in her sleeping bag to get some rest.
Blaze woke up to the Capitol anthem singing in her ears. She groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up to see the seal of Panem floating in the sky. They must've been so tired last night that they missed the first death roll. Apollo's face is the first to appear in the sky. She looks over at Valour to see the girl scowling at the sky and then rolling over to go back to sleep. Blaze shakes her head at that before looking back up at Apollo's shining face. In the short time they knew each other Blaze got to really like Apollo. He was a charming character and he had humor that could never be dimmed.
The next face to appear was Aspen. Her face was perfectly intact in the sky and Blaze felt sick at the memory of her mutilated body. Was that what Apollo looked like when the beast was finished with him? Did the Capitol enjoy watching their deaths?
The anthem blared again in the sky and then night appeared again as everything went dark. Only two deaths that day?
Ryker seemed to read her mind because he sat up from where he was laying on his sleeping bag. "That's only two. Who's left?"
Blaze thought and realized that there were no other cannons they heard beside Apollo and Aspen that day and before that it was only the nine that rang after the bloodbath. That meant that in two days only eleven tributes were dead. "Well it's us. I think the boy from district six is still alive, Monroe. Both from seven. Both from eight. And the girls from eleven and twelve. There's someone else but I can't remember who."
Everyone else shook their heads and Blaze's shoulder's deflated. There were still thirteen of them left and the arena was so huge that these games could take forever. But surely the Gamemakers couldn't let them go on for that long. The people in the capitol would start to get bored if nothing happened.
The others seemed to have the same thought. Dylan gritted his teeth, the closest he's come to showing any emotion, and took a swig of his water. "We need to speed these games up if we don't want to be here forever. Tomorrow we should go looking for the other tributes."
They all nodded and returned back to their sleeping bags as Ryker stayed up to take his turn at keeping watch. Blaze laid down closer to him and felt Ryker brushed his fingertips over her scalp. He massaged it gently and Blaze smiled as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
