Survivor: The Forty-Seventh Hunger Games

Chapter 19

Ruby Lalonde, D1

It was obvious the three Careers would stick together. Charming, Jackie and I were a strong ready-made trio, and it seemed expedient to allow Reefe on the periphery even if he was only a quasi-Career. We needed six members to get an absolute guarantee of safety, but four was a solid start. If we could convince the others to take the obvious path and vote Potato out during our first council, we'd be that much closer to a majority. It was unlikely the outliers would ever let us gain the advantage of numbers, but we could perhaps form sub-alliances and focus their energies toward the undesirables. Specifically, Reefe.

Very little of my ideas came out during our tribal meet-and-greet. I preferred to keep things to myself. The others would ask about the important things. Lancia and Cross hit it off right away and started formulating their own strategies. Potato staked out one of the snack tables and set about devouring it. Sammy, Camellia and Angora clustered together and started to whisper in teenager voices. Demetrius and Trent awkwardly made conversation, since they were the only ones left. As for the Careers, we got ready.

"I think we should spend one day on survival things," I suggested. The rules stated that we would be provided starvation rations of rice and beans, but the rest of our food was up to us to procure. In an interesting departure from normal Games, we would be instructed as to which plants were poisonous and which were safe. Titian didn't want any accidental deaths. He also told us it was forbidden to physically interfere with other Tributes. Detrimentally, anyway... whatever that was supposed to insinuate.

"That's a good idea. Reefe and me already know how to fish. Why don't you two learn about hunting and plants?" Jackie said. Only someone who had trained with Charming for years would recognize the hesitation in his expression. In a normal Games, I would have trusted Jackie. She seemed like one of the friendly Careers we saw every few years. But this time, different skills were necessary. She might have been trying to maximize our efficiency, but she might have been trying to ensure she was the only one with a valuable skill. The dynamics and chances were completely different this year. We had to change as fast as the rules did.

Jackie Hawkins, D4

I only realized after I said it how suspicious I sounded. I really had just meant that it would make more sense to spread out our skills, but it sounded like I wanted to be the only one with an indispensable skill. I quickly moved to remedy the situation.

"Then again, we'll catch more fish if we all know how. How about we help show you?" I asked.

"I think that would be great," Charming said, moving in to mend the rift before it opened. We turned to safer topics of voting tactics and outlier threats.

Personally, I liked being in a team. Some people dreaded it, and it was awful if you had rotten teammates, but I didn't think that would be much of a problem. I wasn't overly fond of a volunteer-cheat like Reefe, but the rest were okay. Potato was one of our best advantages. He looked like a complete hindrance, but his uses were twofold. First, he was the obvious first vote and the one we would all tell each other was for the best to soothe our consciences. Second, he wasn't a guaranteed Career vote. We weren't even sure he could read.

I took an unconventional approach to my training. I did some of the puzzles and agility courses they set out, but I spent a lot of time on mundane activities. I already liked to cook, so I took some time to learn about the spice plants we might find on the island. I practiced grinding them and the instructor and I made a soup together. Not only was it really fun, it was also very strategic.

The way to stay alive was not to get voted out. The way to not get voted out was to not have people vote for you. People wouldn't vote for someone they wanted to have around. I didn't have to worry about fishing becoming a shared skill. To stay alive, I needed to be an asset. A friendly, supportive girl who kept the camp homey and made the food taste less like raw fish was a definite asset.

Trent Buchanan, D6

I didn't have a definite place in the tribe. The Careers got together right away, and most of the others found pairs or groups. Me and Demetrius were the odd ones out. It was likely we'd be some of the first targets. I needed to make sure I was a huge asset to the camp. Or at least a bigger asset than Demetrius- at the very least, Potato.

We'd been briefed on some ideas of what to expect for challenges during the Games. I was glad to hear there would be a good deal of agility challenges. Puzzles weren't my strong suit, so it was obvious I should brush up on my strengths. It seemed like a waste of time to do something I was already good at, but I had a plan. It might happen that the first challenge would be a puzzle or something. I'd do really terrible, and if our tribe lost, I'd look like I had no skills. It was important to not only be good at something, but to have everyone know I was good at it.

With that in mind, I swept the room before I started the agility course. The Careers were at the fishing station, weirdly enough. They looked up at the others intermittently, so I had a partial audience. Lancia and Cross were doing memory exercises, but they were also keeping an eye on their tribemates. Camellia and Sammy were throwing red balls at each other. Sammy nailed Camellia in the stomach and she threw herself to the ground with one arm splayed over her eyes and the other clutching her heart.

It was no big deal for me to do the agility course. It was made for beginners, not people with experience. I made sure to do all the coolest looking moves, whether or not they were the hardest. I smacked my feet and hands down harder than I had to, just to make sure people heard me. I didn't make any obnoxious, attention-seeking yells, but I made sure my presence was noticeable.

When I reached the finish and looked around, a few faces had taken notice of me. Jackie was making a silent "ooh" face as she oversaw the Careers making fishhooks. Lancia looked interested but not really impressed. Camellia was less reserved.

"That was wicked!"