The Taste of Death ~ Hunger Games Fanfiction- Finnick/OC

Chapter 5

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Chapter 5

District 14

Scarlet Wolfe

"Violet Wolfe."

Scarlet's eyes shot to the spot where her older sister was standing.

No.

Surely not.

Violet doesn’t move as the seconds tick by, and a trickle of doubt flickered in Scarlet’s mind. Perhaps she had misread the name on Penelope’s lips? It didn’t happen often, but occasionally…

Scarlet looked back at the stage. Penelope’s eyes scanned the crowd, her puckered grimace of a smile on full display, searching for this year’s new tribute.

“Violet Wolfe?”

And this time, Scarlet was sure that it was in fact her sister’s name coming from Penelope Bright’s brightly painted blue lips. Violet Wolfe.

Her eyes skated across the silent crowd until they found her sister once more. Violet began to move. Almost as if in a daze, her limbs were not quite in coordination with one another.

For just a moment, Scarlet considered not volunteering. Violet was spoiled, selfish, and took every opportunity to make Scarlet's life completely miserable.

Scarlet watched as Violet emerged from the group of sixteen-year-old girls and was escorted to the stage by two peacekeepers in freshly polished white uniforms. Halfway to the stage, Violet turned around, her eyes scanned the crowd wildly, until her eyes found Scarlet’s. Panicked desperation sought her impassive ones.

Scarlet's lips curled upward. Violet's panic turned sharply to disbelief and anger.

Scarlet waited until Violet was up on the stage, staring into the crowd, thinking that this was the end of her rope. That her carefree life was cut short by the sister she hated the most. She waited until the cold realization set in that Scarlet didn’t have to volunteer. Her family mandated it and had raised her for it. District 14’s society reinforced it.

But she didn’t have to.

At least, that’s what Scarlet wanted Violet to think. Scarlet knew that the few slaughter children that refused to volunteer were shunned by District 14 and left for dead. Their families turned their backs on them, and most would starve or freeze to death in under a month. Anyone that took pity on them would be turned into an outcast as well, which had proven equally fatal in the past.

Scarlet Wolfe took a single step forward, standing out of the line of twelve-year-olds that she had been in.

It wasn’t for Violet. It wasn’t for her family. It wasn’t for District 14 or the nation of Panem.

It was for herself. Scarlet volunteered not because she was accepting death, but because it was her only chance at life. She would enter that Arena and fight with every ounce of her strength to get out of it.

"I volunteer as tribute." Scarlet said loudly.

For the first time in her life, she was glad that her parents were ashamed of her deafness. From the time her hearing had been lost when she was just a baby, her parents had beat her or berated her every time her voice was the slightest bit off 'normal'.

Cadmium and Crimson have helped her practice in private for years. And from those years of carefully practicing how to modulate and control her voice, tone, pitch, and volume, she was sure that it was strong and unwavering.

With sure steps and her head held high, Scarlet stepped out from the group of twelve-year-old and into the aisle that separates the boys from the girls. She kept the smirk on her face as she gave a quick glance back at her family, her eyes falling on Cadmium.

He held Honey’s hand tight in his as he watched her, expressionless. Scarlet knew that he was devastated, but there was nothing that either of them could do. She couldn’t show any weakness or hesitation. The whole Nation of Panem was watching. And each of the twenty-five other tributes she would be facing in the Arena would likely watch this as well.

Be strong, Cadmium. This place has no home for weakness. If pain is what you want, then live. Because pain is for the living. The dead feel nothing. She wished that she had told him that before. Now she wondered if she'd ever get the chance to.

Scarlet lifted a shoulder and let it drop carelessly, as if to say, 'Oh, well' to her family. She didn’t want them to see anything of the shock she felt at having to volunteer her very first year eligible.

Then she turned and walked towards the stage.

She knew what people would see. A poor, wild girl from District 14. No shoes, even in the dead of winter. Her 'nice clothes' consisted of a threadbare pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Her face, which she thought was pretty nice looking—normally—was half covered in blood and had some sort of gash near her left eye. The blood on her face had long since frozen, forming trails of blood from her wound to across her face and down her neck, staining her shirt.

Scarlet moved up the aisle towards the stage, reaching the bottom of the stairs as Violet reached the top of them.

"Go and die, bitch." Violet said, her mouth barely moving, likely to keep her voice quiet so no one else could hear her words.

Scarlet took the next step without faltering, never letting the smirk fall from her face. "Who's going to volunteer for you next year?"

As the words leave her mouth, she doesn't have to try so hard to keep the smirk in place.

Maybe she was a bit more like Crimson than she'd like to admit, because she could say that she truly enjoyed the way Violet's eyes widened so much that the whites of her eyes surrounded her hazel eyes completely.

In that moment, Violet Wolfe’s fear was like the rare warmth of sun in District 14.

Scarlet raised her hand to her mouth and blew her sister a kiss before turning away and taking the stage. She kept her eyes on the escort, knowing she’d make a comment or two. She always did.

Scarlet didn’t miss the way Penelope eyes went straight to the blood on her face and how she took a small step back, as if Scarlet really was a wild animal and she might lash out if she got to close.

"Oh my, another volunteer from District 14! What's your name... Sweetheart?"

Scarlet fought a snarl at the endearment, though by the way that Penelope’s face faltered for a bit, before perking back up in that grimace-smile that only she can do.

“Scarlet Wolfe.”

"Well, I'd bet my button that was your sister you volunteered for, am I right?"

"Yes." Though she's tempted to say no for no other reason other than to see how she would react.

There was something extremely unlikeable about the escort of District 14. It was more than her just being from the Capitol and more than her coming year after year to draw the names of the tributes. It was something about the way she talked and thought and acted that made Scarlet want to make her as uncomfortable as possible.

"Didn't want her to have the glory of being reaped?"

Keeping the smirk firm on her face she answered Penelope’s ridiculous question. "Not at all."

Glory? Scarlet had wanted Violet to have the terror of being reaped. She wanted Violet to feel, even for a moment, what every slaughter-child felt.

What glory? Scarlet didn't understand how the Capitol citizens’ minds worked. She wasn't sure she wanted to, but as a newly reaped tribute of the 67th Hunger Games, she knew she'd have too.

Penelope tittered, taking Scarlet's statement as an agreement. Her faulty assumption grated on Scarlet’s nerves.

Up close, Scarlet could see that her yellow powder didn't meet her wig, and she was left with a peach-colored strip along her forehead. Scarlet stepped closer to Penelope with a frown, ignoring the way that Penelope stepped back the smallest bit. "Did you forget to put makeup on your forehead or is that a new style in the Capitol where the make-up doesn't cover your whole face?" Scarlet gestured to her head and the approximate location of the makeup less line.

Penelope's eye twitched, as her smile-grimace barely stayed on her face.

"Well... aren't you a..." She paused, searching for the right word.

"A very wicked wolf?" Scarlet offered, emphasizing her words with a snap of her teeth.

Penelope's hand shot to her throat, and she said something that Scarlet couldn’t read because her lips were barely moving as she talked.

Penelope Bright looked back to the crowd and back to Scarlet, looking a little scared. Scarlet let her smirk widen, showing her teeth once more. If Penelope wanted to treat her like an animal, then she had no problem pretending to be one.

Scarlet didn't know, but at that moment Cadmium let out a wolf howl into the cold snowy day on her behalf, with Honey and Crimson joining shortly after. Now all of Panem would know that a pack of Wolves live in District 14.

"Well," Penelope said, trying to recover in front of the crowds, or maybe remembering that this was being televised and that she had a job to do. “Let's...Let's move onto the boys now."

From the stage, Scarlet watched as Penelope Bright moved toward the glass bow with thousands of small pieces of folded paper, each with a name of a boy from District 14. Penelope pulled her hand up, her fingers holding a single slip.

Scarlet swore that there was a collective draw of breathes. In all the faces she could see, not a single one moved. Their eyes locked on the escort of District 14.

She only hoped that Auburn or Crimson didn't get drawn. There were likely thousands of names in that bowl. Penelope walked back to the microphone and Scarlet swore she walked slower on purpose, as if she were enjoying the absolute attention and focus of every single child and parent in District 14. In her hand, she held the fate of one boy’s future.

With Penelope facing the crowd, Scarlet kept her eyes locked on the screens that had zoomed in on the stage of District 14. From there, Scarlet could see Penelope and was able to read her lips as she announced the male tribute of the 67th Hunger Games.

"Auburn Wolfe."

Scarlet stood frozen for a second, forcing the smile to remain on her face. Eight. Auburn’s name was only in there eight times.

She looked out into the crowd, knowing what she would see before it happened.

Crimson stepped out from the twelve-year-old boy’s section into the aisle. Unlike her, he didn’t wait until Auburn reached the stage.

“I volunteer as tribute.” Crimson said and Scarlet knew that his voice was strong and steady even though she couldn’t hear it. There was no trace of hesitation on his face as it filled the broadcasting screens. He stood just as tall and proud as she had when volunteering.

Scarlet looked at her older brother, still standing in the exact same spot he had been before his name had been called. Not even a single step had been taken by him before Crimson volunteered.

Auburn’s entire face was pointed to the ground, not even looking up as Crimson passed the section of the fourteen-year-old boys.

Scarlet watched Crimson approach the stage with a quiet calm about him. She watched as he walked up the stairs evenly and approached the center of the stage where Penelope and Scarlet waited for him to take his place on the other side of Penelope. Opposite of Scarlet.

Because from this moment on, only one of them could walk away from the Arena alive. From this moment on, they were each other’s competition.

"Oh, my.” Scarlet could see the interest gleaming in their escorts eyes and could imagine the newfound sincerity in her words that were missing from her earlier comments about Scarlet volunteering. There was nothing interesting about a volunteer from District 14. But two? And siblings to boot. Now that, was unheard of. “What a year for District 14! Brother and sister reaped, and brother and sister volunteered, isn't it so?"

The excitement that practically burst out of Penelope at the prospect of what had just happened left Scarlet disgusted.

"Yes. She is my sister…” Crimson looked across Penelope to Scarlet. “My twin sister."

"And now you get to compete with her in the Arena for the glory of Panem! Isn't this your dearest dream come true?"

Crimson stared at Scarlet, seemingly, for the first time, truly at a loss for how to answer someone. Her brother, Crimson Wolfe, who could charm anyone, was at a complete loss of how to answer. Not that Scarlet blamed him.

Dearest dream come true? Fighting to the death with her twin?

How could they come from the same world? Breathe the same air? But be so completely different from each other.

Instead of answering Penelope's question, Scarlet closed the distance between her and Crimson. Penelope skittered back a few steps, but Scarlet paid little mind to the escort as she stretched out her arm in the open air between her and her twin.

Crimson's lips curled as he griped her forearm firmly with his hand spanning around her entire forearm. Her fingers curled around his arm, holding tight.

"One Wolfe comes home this year."

"One Wolfe comes home." He repeated her words, as a grin spread across his face, matching the one on hers.

There was no fear in either their faces or in their hears. Both of them were ready to fight to the death in the Arena. Both of them were sure of their desire to win. Their desire to live.

Neither one of them would back down. Not even for the other.

They let go of one another at the same time, stepping back and looking into the somber crowd of District 14.

She looked behind the reaping aged children to the adults and the younger siblings. She could see Honey curled up against Cadmium's side from here. She thought Cadmium's face was still blank, but she couldn't tell from this distance.

Her own smirk hadn't left her face, and she didn't plan for it to leave her face either. She was coming back. She wasn't done yet. She would fight to live. And she would do everything in her power to survive.

Scarlet knew that in order to do just that, she couldn't falter, she could not hesitate. She would need to be ruthless and willing to do anything and everything. And she was.

She put her hands to her mouth, lifted her head up into the air and howled. Crimson, Cadmium, and Honey joined her.

Scarlet turned on the heel of her foot and left the stage without looking back, ready to leave District 14 behind.