The rain was cold and constant; refusing to leave me be. My thin wool sweater kept in most of my body heat but the water still sent chills up my spine. I threw my shovel into the ground. The earth parted and I swiftly put the roots of the baby tree into the opening. I pushed the dirt tightly together around the sapling. I took two large steps forward and threw the blade into the ground once more. Plant faster. Stay warm. Plant faster. Warmth, warmth, warmth. The only solution to any problem out here was to do your job not only better but faster. Cold? Plant faster. Miserable? Plant faster. Exhausted? Plant faster. Starving? Plant faster.
It was almost noon and I had only put twelve hundred trees into the ground. I was useless in the cold. Thoughts of warm sun and hot soup refused to leave my mind. I unbuckled the sacks from my hips that held the little spruce trees. It hit the ground just as my shovel did. I needed a break. I had been out here for two months already with no one but my brothers to keep me sane. I pulled a small piece of dried squirrel from my back pocket. I chewed the tough meat gingerly. The wind began to pick up as I swallowed the last of it. Forcing me to rotate so that the rain whipped into my back instead of getting me head on.
"Fuck!" I shouted, kicking my shovel a good six feet ahead of me.
"Eh, at least it isn't snowing." Axel said with a smile as he came up beside me, doubled over as he placed a tree in the ground. Then another. And another. "Come on you. Let's get this done early so we can get some real food."
I pulled my bags back on as Axel flew by me. I couldn't shake the image of hot soup from my mind. My mouth began to water as I urged myself forward. Struggling to keep up with Axel. Of my thirteen siblings, he was the one I favoured. People often mistook us for being twins as we shared the same dark hair, green eyes, pale skin, medium height, and slim build. Even our personalities were relatively similar.
"Only a couple more weeks of this." I could barely hear Axel over the rain.
"Then we can all be cooped up together at home." I growled, opening then stomping close a hole. "It'll be less maddening then this place."
"When you're home you want to be here and when you're here you want to be home." Axel's pace was beginning to slow. I came up beside him and caught eyes with him. He held the gaze for a moment then sped up once more.
"What?" I questioned, as I forced myself to match his speed. The muscles in my legs began to burn and stiffen.
"It's nothing." Axel glanced back over at me. I swung my shovel to the side and it hit him hard in the chest. He stopped and rubbed where the metal had made contact. "I have just been thinking."
"You're in a clear cut all day planting trees. Of course you have been thinking." I hissed at him, coming off more moody than I had meant to. "What is it?"
"The Quarter Quell." He was picking the small limbs off of a poor Spruce from his bag. "We will be home soon … And the Games will be soon after."
"Just as they always are-"
"But there is a vote this time!" His face was turning red with frustration. "And who do you think they will choose as tribute?"
"It could be almost anyone." I hoped that would be reassuring but we both knew it wasn't a true statement.
"Sure. Almost anyone." He drove the blade of his shovel into the soaked soil. "When everyone finally has a chance to get rid of two planters? You honestly think they will let this opportunity pass?"
"It isn't an opportunity. No one has a choice in this." I ripped the tree from his hands as he began to pick off its roots. I knew what he was saying was true. We weren't exactly praised back home. Planting was a job reserved for the lowest of our society; both financially and morally. The idea was to keep the leeches and the bad seeds out of the city for months at a time. "There are still other fami-"
"As big as ours? As well known?" He was staring me down with an intensity I hadn't seen in him for years. Our family had the worst track record as far as planters went. Our father is considered to be a wretch and is involved in many of the towns underground dealings and my mother is a known whore. As for my siblings, three have been executed by the Capitol and the rest of us are looked down upon by pretty much everyone.
"So …" I could feel the cold catching up to me. I hadn't thought about the Games much over the past few months. They had never been much of a concern for us. We never had our names entered more than the minimum amount. We were always able to scrape together enough resources to survive - sometimes, to actually live comfortably. The reality that one of us possibly being chosen was overwhelming. I mirrored my brother's pained expression as pressure built up in my chest.
"If they have any grace they'll choose you and Blaze." Axel's logic was by age. Blaze was the oldest who still counted for the reaping. As was I for my sisters. "If they have any sense they'll choose you and me."
I cannot help but laugh. He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. His body was warm and I tightened my grip around him trying to absorb it as much as I could.
"Hey!" A familiar voice rang out and I pushed myself out of Axel's reach. Bolt, the peacekeeper for our camp, must have been making his rounds early. We both immediately started working once more. "Slash! Axel! Focus or you -"
"We know." We both growled in unison. I could feel my back sting and tingle as thoughts of our peacekeeper's whip filled my mind. There was a price to pay, other than hunger and neglect, if you didn't keep your production and quality high. I could feel Bolt's eyes still trailing us and it made my stomach turn. Between the rain, the Capitol jockey and these fresh thoughts of the Games I could feel my focus faltering. Just finish the land, finish the job, finish it.
It took us less than an hour to fill the remaining land with trees. Bolt walked out into the land and checked that everything was perfect. He came out with a smug look on his face. "Beautiful work, kids. Head back to camp."
With that the two of us shoved our loose gear into our tree sacks and began the two hour hike back to our temporary home. We cut through the dense forest that occasionally broke into empty chunks of land. As we neared camp we became more aware of our surroundings and slowed our pace. The rain had stopped but the forest still dripped and flowed with fresh water. If we wanted a good meal tonight we were going to have to find it now.
Axel grabbed my hand and nodded his head to the side. I looked to see a pair of bear cubs attempting to climb a tree. Usually black bear cubs could scale a tree in a matter of seconds. I watched for a moment, the one cub sprinted up the tree with no problems. As the other pawed at the bark and circled below. The cub's limp was obvious and the two were soon reunited as the other scaled back down.
"It's leg is injured." Axel said with a wide grin. Two cubs could easily feed our camp and provide a new blanket for one of us. This was an opportunity we couldn't pass up even though we weren't prepared.
"Where is the mother?" I asked hesitantly, pulling out my two machetes from my belt. Axel was already holding his axe and a canister of bear mace. We both dropped our bags from our hips and I clipped a canister of bear mace to my belt. Axel remained about ten feet behind me as I approached the cubs. They both looked startled by me but their curiosity held them in place. I didn't remove my eyes from them as they both huddled next to each other. As I swung my knife down into the skull of one, the other let out a panicked shriek and immediately turned to sprint into the woods. However, Axel had circled around and cut it off. It let out another whimper as the axe struck it's spine.
There was no mother bear in sight as I put my machetes away. Axel was looking around nervously as we both listened for the crashing of feet and angry growls of the beast but there was nothing. I ran back to our bags, throwing mine on and carrying Axel's to him. I grabbed my cub by its back paws and threw it over my shoulder. It must have weighed at least forty pounds. We quickly made our way back to camp, gracefully moving over the slick roots and moss that coated the ground.
We were less than a mile away when the cracking of roots could be heard behind us. This followed by a growing roar that made both of us turn. The mother must have finally realized her children weren't where she had left them. I dropped my cub as I pulled out my machetes and walked towards the noise. She was large for a female and was sprinting directly at me. I readied myself, even though I knew my chances of doing any damage was little to none. Hopefully while she was mauling me Axel could get some swings into her.
She let out a final scream of anger as she drew within three feet of me. I thrust the knife up but in an instantly I let out a scream of pain. My skin burned. My eyes burned. My lungs burned. A pressure from behind had knocked me onto my stomach and I let out a scream of pain. "It burns! It burns!" My hands clenched my face as my eyes began to swell, along with my throat and lungs. "Make it stop!" I felt something grab me by the back of my neck, causing a sharp pain to resonate through my entire body. Whatever it was it was dragging me and I attempted to struggle but all my senses were overrun.
I let out one more scream before a jolt of pain filled the back of my skull and everything seemed to fade away from me.