~Thank you for your feedback. Now the chapters are going to be a lot more detailed, instead of me cramming three events in one chapter. So enjoy Chapter 3! BTW, the stars (**) mean I am quoting The Hunger Games!~
Chapter 3
My heart is pounding, faster than the gold numbers on the Cornucopia. 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45.
I do what always works for me, I take a deep breath. I then look around. Ronald is seemingly, a few pedestals from me, standing next to Peeta Mellark from District 12 and the girl from District 8. I stand next to a Career, Glimmer I believe, from District 1 and the little girl from District 11, Rue. I look at the numbers one more time. 41, 40, 39, 38.
I observe my surroundings. *We're on a flat, open stretch of ground. A plain of hard-packed dirt. I don't see a steep downward slope or a cliff. To my left is a lake. And behind me is a piney woods.* I decide to turn and run into the woods when the gong sounds, find a pond or stream for water, then settle down, and eventually steal food from tributes.
But suddenly I see a large evergreen backpack, quite a distance from the Cornucopia, and it's angled so perfectly that I could sprint, grab it, and run safely into the woods. I decide to go for it. I look at the number one last time. 17,16,15,14,13, 12. I focus my eyes on the bag, and position myself to run. I hear a few more thuds, and prepare myself for this. Then the gong sounds, and all hell breaks lose.
I hear screams and clashing of weapons, tributes being killed, but I'm still running. I grab the pack and run into the foliage. Once the leaves cover me, I watch the scene. It is a bloodbath. Horrible. I see Ronald, armed with a nice sword when the enormous boy from 11 slices his neck off with a large, crooked knife. Suddenly someone bumps into me.
I almost scream in terror. But then I see it's Katniss Everdeen. She looks as panicked as I feel. We just stand and stare at each other. I don't want allies, but I don't want the girl who scored an 11 on my bad side. I can tell she feels the same. So I run off in the opposite direction.
I run and run and run. I pass about three tributes before I feel safe. My legs are tired but I keep going. The woods are never ending. Finally after a good 15 minutes, and the cannons have fired, I stop and look around. I'm on a hill, but I realize after I look up that it's a mountain. The summit isn't visible but I decide to see if it's not too revealing. I climb for an hour it seems, and when I reach the top I'm relieved. The summit is very spacious and covered with bushes and trees. I even find a pond and I nearly faint. Even some of the trees have apples on them and bushes have edible berries like strawberries. This is the perfect place for a camp. I sit down on a rock at the pond's edge and open my backpack. Inside I find a nice sleeping bag, some crackers, some beef, a carrot, a rope, a bottle of iodine, and an empty water bottle. Seems good enough.
I fill the water bottle with the water from the pond and add the iodine. I eat a strip of beef while I wait. When the water's ready, I drink the whole bottle. And I fill up again and again. When I feel hydrated, I fill it up one last time and close my pack. I look around for a tree to climb. I pick a nice sturdy and tall oak. It's an easy climb, since there are so many branches. The billions of leaves are a perfect concealment but I can see through them, and I realize I have a perfect view of the lake and Cornucopia. How well I have done!
I scan the scene. Bodies, bloody and disfigured, lay everywhere. I didn't pay attention to the number of cannon fires, but I count 9 bodies. I will see who has died tonight in the sky.
I sleep for a few hours, and I am awakened by the Panem anthem. The Fallen is projected. I watch intently. The first face I see is the girl from District 3. The Careers from 1 and 2 are alive, of course. The boy from District 4, a Career, that's odd. Ronald is projected and I feel a twinge of guilt for not speaking to him much. We could have been allies, but instead, I let him die.
Both from Districts 6 and 7. The boy from 8. Both from nine. That makes 10. And finally is the girl from 10. I am surprised that Rue survived. I nestle back into a comfortable position and quickly observe the woods. Nothing much. No fires or fights. I look at the Cornucopia. Most of the Careers are sleeping. They've piled the remains of the horn, which is enough to last all of District 5 for 3 weeks, in a huge pyramid. Marvel and the boy from 2, Cato are guarding. The girls from 1,2, and 4 are in sleeping bags. I am still quite tired, so I close my eyes and fall asleep.
*Snap! The distant sound of a breaking branch wakes me up. How long have I been asleep? Four hours? Five? Snap! Snap! What is going on?* I know the sound is faint, but I am a light sleeper. This is scaring me though. It sounds like it's coming from the valley, which is only about a few yards from the bottom of the mountain. I look carefully, but I see nothing. I dig through my pack again. I have nothing to use. Suddenly, I see a silver parachute fly down in my direction. I open it up to find binoculars! Oh how perfect! The note from Rhea says, "Thought you needed some help seeing!" I shake my head, smiling. I hold the binoculars up to my eyes and look in the direction of the snapping. There's nothing but blackness. Then there's a spark, and a small fire begin to bloom. I make out the figure, the girl from 8. I just stifle back laughter.
What an idiot! It's one to light a fire, just at nightfall, when the Careers and other tributes are just settling down. But now? Oh I can't wait to see her killed! I look toward the Careers. They're gone, except the girl from 4, who is guarding the pile with a spear. They must have been out for hours now, combing the woods for kills. For the next couple of hours, the girl warms by the fire. I keep thinking that maybe she's lucky and the Careers won't find her too soon, so she'll put it out. But she doesn't. I begin to feel the first signs of dawn. Suddenly my arm jerks, like a spasm, but the binoculars show a very interesting sight. Katniss Everdeen is lying in a tree. The approaching dawn and firelight shows that her face has the angriest expression ever on it. But it starts lightening when as the dawn comes.
But then I see them. I was moving the binoculars back to the girl from 8 and I went too far. But I see them now. It's the Careers. Oh, this girl will not survive tonight. All of them are armed to the fullest. Swords, knives, spears, machetes, every kind of blade. I move back to the girl, and feel very sorry for her. For she looks so panicked and terrified that, words cannot describe it. She jumps up. And she begin to run when Marvel throws a spear and it lodges in her shoe. She trips and falls to the ground with a loud thud and a shriek. I listen closely as her crying eyes stare up into the faces of her killers. Cato hands Glimmer a swords and stands over the girl. "Please! Please don't kill me!" she begs. Glimmer shakes her head and strikes her in the stomach with the blade.
The girl from 2, Clove, says in a rather loud, snarky voice, "12 down, and 11 to go!" They check the girl for supplies but they find nothing useful. The all laugh and walk toward Katniss's tree, not knowing that their enemy is so close. They seem to be heading in my direction since their voices are growing louder. They begin talking about moving away from the body and "Where's the cannon?". They've deduced that she isn't dead so a boy volunteers to go and I am shocked to see that's it's Peeta! I watch as he returns back the girl. He whispers something to her. She nods. Suddenly he helps her up. He hands her a knife and she begins running. But along the way, her stomach must have been losing so much blood, that I hear a cannon and know she's dead. Suddenly the sky projects, More Fallen and the girl is shown and then the boy from 10. 10 of us left. Peeta frowns and returns back to the others. "Was she dead?" Cato asks. "No, but she is now." He replies. "Good job Lover Boy." Marvel jokes. But I do remember hearing them contemplate whether to kill him or not.
After the scenario is over, since the Careers move past Katniss with no notice, I fall back asleep. I wake up at about noon. I drink and fill my water bottle a few more times, eat a strip of beef and one cracker. I pick lots of berries and apples and shove them in the pack too. I decide that if I sleep and hide and slowly eat, I'll be fine. So I climb back up the tree. I quickly check the Cornucopia. The Careers are all up except the girl from 4, since she must have been up all night. Katniss has moved from her tree, probably in search of water. I drink more water, fill the bottle, and drink more. I'm too hydrated. I need food. So I indulge by having three strips of beef, five crackers, and an apple. It's the first real meal I've had in days. I feel energized.
I stock up on more berries and apples. Later, I realize that the girl from 8 did have stuff left over. The Careers didn't take anything, they probably didn't need it. But I could use extra supplies! I grab my pack and rush down the mountain. It takes about a half hour to get down. I run the girl's spot and find something extraordinary. An empty plastic gallon for water! It's too perfect, the Careers didn't need an empty gallon since they have all the water bottles and water they could possibly want. But I need something larger than my tiny bottle. I also find an umbrella and another pack of crackers! I am flooded with euphoria.
I rush back up the mountain in an hour. I settle down, fill the gallon up, and load up my bulging pack. I'm just about climb back up the tree and have another nap when I see it. It would be hard to miss Katniss Everdeen sprinting frantically past the mountain. It would be even harder to miss the wall of fire descending upon us.