Red eyes. That's what the mutts had.
"Helix! Run!" Byte shouted out. I looked back and shot an arrow in the direction of the mutts. Then I ran towards my district partner and pushed one of the evil bear mutts off him.
I pulled him free and we ran again, my arrows bouncing in my quiver.
"Run!" I yell at him. He's going too slowly. I have to make him go faster.
"I can't run any faster, I'm not as fast as you, Helix," he gasps.
A mutt snaps at my heel and I whirl around, stabbing an arrow into its chest. It falls over but it's not dead.
But while I stopped, a mutt leapt onto Byte, ripping his head off. Evil bear mutts. Those words course through my mind, repeating over and over. Evil bear mutts, with red eyes.
Evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil bear mutts…
Byte's cannon fires and I sob. I was friends with him. I know I have to keep running; otherwise I'll have the same fate as Byte.
I'm probably the fastest runner in these games, although these evil creations are nearly as fast, and probably have more stamina than I do.
Again, I spin and take a mutt's life—If you can call it that—with my bow. I know I'm wasting arrows but I have to keep going.
Eventually I fall into a cycle. Run, run, whenever a mutt gets too close, shoot, run, run…
And always keep thinking: Evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil…
I've managed to shoot all the mutts but I feel in my quiver. 3 arrows left. I curse my mindlessness and keep walking. I'm in the mountain part of this horrible arena and I hear two more cannons.
Five people were left, the boy from 1, the girl from 2, Byte, the girl from 7, and surprisingly, the boy from 12 and me.
Nobody was in an alliance as far as I know except for me and Byte and the Careers, but I'm guessing they've split up by now.
Night falls, and the Capitol anthem plays. The boy from 1 shows up first, and I'm surprised. He was the strongest Career, but I guess someone outsmarted him. Then Byte… I hold down a sob. Someone could hear me. Then the boy from 12. I guess the boy from 1 and him had a fight and they both died. I guess it's down to me, the girl from 7, and the girl from 2.
I'm not surprised about the girl from 7, she seemed like a survivor and she got a 9 in training but the girl from 2, Quintilla, seemed like a total airhead. I guess she was fooling us all.
The next morning, I get out of my cave that I slept in and I start when I see a shadow in the doorway. I must have made too much noise, because Quintilla walks in casually.
"Hey there, Helix. How's it going? I'm sure you must she wetting your pants right now. Because I'm going to kill you." She leaps at me, slicing with her sword. I manage to block it with my bow and pray that the bow will still work.
I fire at her and she blocks it with a circular shield.
"You know, I killed the girl from 7 earlier. I decided to let her bleed to death," Quintilla drawls. A cannon fires.
"There she is. Now I just have to kill you, and win!" She says cheerily.
I snarl at her and say, "You won't be killing me."
"Oh, really?" She leaps at me.
I step out of the way. "Yes, really." I smirk. I fire again at her and this time it hits her in the side. She hisses and plunges her sword into my thigh.
I go to reload but realize there's only one arrow left. A red-fletched arrow. Like the Capitol's cruel joke on me. I know I have to make this last arrow count.
I nock the arrow to the string and pretend that I'm going to fire towards her head. She puts her shield up there and I quickly aim it towards her heart. I release it and her horrified look tells me she realized too late that she knows what I did.
The arrow buries in her heart and her cannon fires.
I am Helix Querison. I am the female mentor for District 3. And every night, I have flashbacks of the red-eyed mutts.