Chapter 3: Debt Unpaid

The loud sound of the canon made me leap from my resting state. I pulled out the dry palm leaves that covered my shivering body and saw white smoke emanating out from my lips as I took a long sigh. Looking up to the tree above me, I saw Gabriel awake and eating a piece of apple. He found me looking at him, oblivious that my stomach is grumbling from hunger.

"Here." He dropped down an apple to me and I caught it with my muddy hands. "Your stomach has been making loud noises." He added, this time his eyes are averted to the rising sun at the horizon.

I looked away from him, the tint blush on my cheeks obvious on my bruised face. I took a bite on the apple and tasted the sweetness of its juice in my mouth. I wiped my mouth with my jacket's sleeves and turned my gaze back to Gabriel. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough for your stomach to settle." He replied back and this time he leapt down from his resting place on the tree and crouched down beside me. "We need to move out." He added, standing up straightly and I could perfectly see the damages Damien had caused him during their fight last night.

It was obvious that his hand is still in bad condition, the white bandages soiled with his own blood. There were cuts on his arms and face and he was limping as he began to walk off. With one last bite from the apple, I tossed it away and followed him from behind.

We walked passed bushes and trees, weapons ready for any assault, but it seems no tributes were settled near our camp. I looked up to the skies and saw dark gray clouds settling in the arena. I walked faster so I could walk side by side with Gabriel, but it seems he doesn't want any company beside him, so I trailed off a little behind.

Then another canon fired up in the skies. That's two deaths in one day. That will make twelve of us alive. Gabriel who stopped on his tracks, silence me and I found myself readying my dagger on hand. He looked around and then out from the shadows of the tree before us, an arrow flew to our direction. The arrow flew passed Gabriel's side and aimed towards me.

"Block it!" Gabriel was running towards me and I found my hand where I held the dagger moved to my front and I blocked the arrow from piercing my neck. The arrow rocket up to the trees above us and then fell down a few yards from my feet.

Gabriel finally reached my side and then he whirled around to see the face of our attacker; my attacker to be precise.

"Fast reflexes." A female voice resounded in our ears. She was clapping.

Gabriel and myself readied our daggers as the shadow of the girl was revealed in the sunlight. It was the girl from district 5. I've seen her during the trainings. She was very skilled with the bow and arrow and her aim never misses the dummies. The girl with her fiery red hair and green eyes looked radiant underneath the sun, but the blood that covered her clothes, arms and face made her gruesome and frightening.

I made no attempt to argue with her. She was wrong after all. I had no fast reflexes; it was all thanks to Gabriel who told me to block away the flying arrow to my neck. The girl settled a few meters away from us and then she began firing again. Three arrows aimed straight at us but Gabriel easily blocked them with his dagger. He was very skilled at anything and he moved like he can calculate where the arrow will land.

The girl seemed fairly amused then I saw her pull out a silver box from her jacket's pocket. A lighter. The yellow flames blazed and then she lighted her arrow with it and a bright flame blazed on the tip of the arrow. Gabriel was alarmed at her approach and he turned to look at me, telling me to be alert at all times.

The girl smiled at us and then began firing her burning arrows at us. The arrows path lighted the tall grasses before us and soon we were surrounded by a circle of fire. The girl didn't stop lighting and aiming her arrows at us, soon enough the whole place was clouded with smoke. I coughed violently, inhaling the smoke that comes to intoxicate my nostrils.

Gabriel found me kneeling on the muddy ground, my dagger not on my grip anymore. More arrows came. I found it very intriguing that this girl had so many arrows with it. Gabriel pulled me up to my feet but as soon as I was up, an arrow blazed on my cheek and I shriek in horror as it the fire began to sizzle my hair.

"No!" I began to panic as my hair began to blaze on fire. Gabriel was soon at my aide, putting out the fire from my hair. I was flinging around, making it hard for him to put it out, so without any protests, he pushed me to the ground and I found myself rolling unto dirt and mud.

The fire soon disappeared from my hair and I smelt the burnt hair. I didn't dare to look or touch my hair and how short it must have been by now, but my full attention shifted back to the tribute shooting fiery arrows at us.

"Stay here and stay low!" Gabriel exclaimed to me and I saw him standing up and disappearing into the thick white smoke. I began to cough violently again but the more I made noise, the more the girl tributes shoot at us.

There was a deafening silence and then a loud shriek from the girl tribute. I also heard blade digging into flesh and being pulled out, the usual sounds I always hear while I watch the games at home. Pushing myself up from the ground, I began to run the other way but to my surprise, something toppled me back to the ground. I winced as the sprain from my ankle from last night radiated pain again.

"Damn it!" I cursed and found myself whirling to my side. I opened my eyes and found the girl tribute's body beneath me. I cried in horror after seeing her gruesome face bathed in her own blood, her eyes wide and staring dully to my soul, her mouth twitched in pain and her throat slit. Her flesh was showing from the inside and black colored blood began to gush out her throat like water splashing from a faucet. I found out she was still alive and her hand came in contact with my own throat. I felt her slimy hands caress the back of my throat and her long fingernails scratching my skin before her hand dropped back to the ground.

I scrambled to my feet and found my back hit something hard. A tree trunk perhaps and then the canon resounded. I waited for the smoke to disappear but a hand pulled me up and I found myself looking at Gabriel, his face drenched with human blood- the girl tribute's blood-.

I was shaking all over and the sight of the girl's wrecked face made me tremble more. I was about to breakdown from the horror and the gore. My stomach began to churn as the flashes of flesh bathed in black and red blood run into my brain. I began to pant hard and then Gabriel's arms circled around me as I began to breakdown, wailing and screaming in fear.

"Shhh.." he hushed me, patting my back with his hand. I buried my face on his shoulder and found my own arms circling around his torso.

I wanted to die at that moment. Then the fear of the games came rushing into me. I felt the laughter of the people in Panem upon me after seeing how distorted and fearsome I am. I also felt the rush of emotions pool inside my system; the fear of losing my mother, the sadness of losing Damien, the anger of letting Gabriel kill my friend, the unending feeling of loss and pain. It rushed into me like rough winds during a storm as I made my way back to our house. I felt horrible and the only thing that comforted me at that moment is Gabriel's soft voice as he hushed me and his arms around my torso.

I told myself I wouldn't trust him, but after realizing that I cannot survive on my own. That killing a fellow tribute will make me breakdown like this, I began to realize on myself that deciding to be his ally is the best decision I have made during the games. I wanted company so badly that risking my own life is not an option anymore.

Gabriel's hand pulled away from my torso and I found him wiping out my tears from my cheeks. "Are you all right now?" he asked.

I nodded my head refusing to utter a word. With that death, eleven tributes are left. Gabriel handed me my dagger and then the smoke disappearing into a thin mist. We began to walk away as the hovercraft appeared above us. I turned for the last time to the girl's dead body and found it taken away back to the Capitol. I swear I could still see her eyes looking dully at me. I shivered from the thought and moved closer beside Gabriel, who now seems at ease with me walking side by side with him.

While we were walking, I made an attempt to touch my hair. It had shorten down to my shoulders not anymore reaching down to my waist.

Our walk to the heart of the woods was silent. I found it fun stepping unto Gabriel's boot prints and he found me annoying doing so. I stopped when he finally turned to me, glare blazing from his blue-gray eyes. "Will you act seriously just for once!" his voice was loud and in rage.

I was taken aback by his shifting emotion. "Sorry." Was the only word that came out from my mouth as he continued to walk. This time, he doesn't like having me beside him. Now I know he's showing another side of him: he is very moody.

Another canon shots up in the air. I saw birds in the afternoon skies as they hover above our heads, tiny black shadows forming on my face as I turned up to look at them. Another death. That makes us ten.

"It's been bothering me for quite some time now." I paused on my tracks.

Gabriel stopped as well but didn't turn to look at me. "What is that?"

"You are a career like Monica, right? Why haven't you teamed up?"

Gabriel finally turned to look at me. "That is not your business."

I rolled my eyes at him, knowing that his temper has risen again. He began to walk again and this time, I saw the exhaustion in the hunch of his shoulders. I began to run towards him, pulled his hand for him to stop and he turned to look at me without bothering to pull my hand away from his wrist. "What is it now?"

"I am tired. We should rest now."

Gabriel decided this for a moment before he gave in. We were already at the center of the woods, having seen that the trees in the area are broad and quite tall than an average one. There were birds singing on tree tops, a squirrel had just jumped out from its burrow and when it saw us looking at him like we need his meat for food, it dashed off somewhere in a bush and then we both know at that moment that we have to settle for our food supplies stacked inside our bags. We dig in like there's no tomorrow and we drowned ourselves with our water like there's no light for us the next day.

After eating, all the exhaustion from that day escalated out of our body. Gabriel wanted to perch himself again on a tree. He really does love climbing unto trees; he told me it gave him a good view below. I wanted to try at least to climb a tree but seeing that with these injuries I have acquired, it would be really bad for me to climb. The sprain on my ankle and wound from my back, which would even make it worst if I climb up a tree.

Gabriel wanted to climb the tree but seeing how I became horrified a while ago, he decided to stay with me beneath the canopy of trees. We started a fire. I was very amused of his survival skills. He told me that he has been trained when he was just six years old. In his family, being able to train as career and being able to volunteer in the games is pride to the family name.

I began to feel sorry for him. All his life, he lived his life being told what to do, what not to do and how to survive the games even at the peak of death. He very much accepted his fate in the games and he told me he wouldn't back out until his final breath.

The contenders of the game today are very powerful. There is the sly vixen Monica who can hold two heavy axes on her hands and aim straight to flesh and bone. There were other tributes from poor districts who are very much hungry to kill than to survive. However, I myself am a different person. I know my capabilities and I am the weakest of the group. It doesn't surprise me that everyone in Panem hates my vulnerability and that I looked so much dependent with Gabriel on my side.

The thoughts just brought more horrible feelings inside of me. I forced myself not to cry.

"So what is it like in your district? District 8?" Gabriel finally had the urge to question me.

I grabbed a twig from the ground and began playing with the fire before me. "Not quite elegant like yours. I am a seamstress in our area. I sew military clothes and the make textiles for the Capitol. Not very much interesting than your life at your district."

Gabriel laughed. "You have an honorable occupation. Unlike mine, all I do in our place is train to become a strong career."

"Do you ever get tired?" I asked, looking at him and seeing how the light from the fire flickers on his eyes. "There must be a time when you would have liked to live a different life, right?"

Gabriel smiled and shook his head. "I love being a career. I bring my family the pride and honor they so purely deserved."

"How can you like your job? You train to kill!"

Gabriel turned to me and shook his head. "We are trained to survive."

"That's the same thing." I looked away from his eyes as the feeling of homesickness rushed into my heart. I threw the twig in the fire and it blazed up, sending flicker of light on my face. I stretched out my legs before me and cradled inside my sleeping bag. "Good night." I told Gabriel without seeing his face. How I wish I would wake up the next morning; dead and free from this suffering.

I came to my senses just about dawn. I rolled unto my side and almost got leaves on my mouth. I wiped my mouth with the hem of my jacket's sleeve and turned to our campfire. The woods are ashes now and a faint smoke swirled in the air. I looked up to the skies; no birds singing, no canons firing in the distance, no clouds in sight just the gray skies and there was this uneasy silence.

I sat up and blinked my eyes. I looked to the other side of the campfire and saw Gabriel's back on me. I wander if he is awake, but seeing the slow rise and fall of his chest made me relief that he's still asleep. I reached out for my dagger and began to make short spears from thick branches of the trees. It took me a while to notice that Gabriel hasn't been stirring on his sleep, not a single movement or sound.

I dropped the small spear made of wood on the ground and placed back my dagger on my belt. I stood up and walked over to Gabriel's 'sleeping body'. My eyes went wide with fear when I saw two holes on his uninjured hand. I know those marks and it can't be good. I fell on the ground beside him and shook him hard. He wasn't responding, but he is still alive. For now.

I was hysterical at that moment, knowing that anytime soon he will die from the venom. I realized that when my sister was alive, she told me how to handle snake bites, knowing that I was bitten by a snake when I was two. She told me how to confine the venom by using a tie to unable blood flow. She told me how to suck the venom out without trying to kill myself in doing so. The bite looked fresh, not too long ago.

I grabbed Gabriel's hand and placed my mouth on top the bite marks. I began to suck out the blood and venom on the holes. The taste of blood on my taste buds felt awful to my stomach, but I need to save him. I owe him. He needs to survive, not just for my sake but for others- his family-. I sucked out enough of his blood and venom and spit it right into the ground behind me. I pulled out a bandage strip from his bag and tied it on his wrist. I don't know if what I am doing was right, but I know I could save him.

I looked around me. This is the time where my scores in the training must be put into use. I need my sponsors to save Gabriel from dying. I found a camera and stared at it too long for my mentor to realize what I need at this time. I also hoped whoever is Gabriel's mentor sees me or any of his sponsors. I know Gabriel received the same score as I am, and I believe they could also help, seeing he is after all from district 1; a career. His family wouldn't let him die.

It took a while longer before a silver parachute appeared in the skies. It landed a few meters from our camp and I rushed towards it. I looked at the contents of the basket and found a vial inside swirled a green liquid and a syringe. I ran back to Gabriel and by the time I reached him, I saw him convulse, the white of his eyes rolling and foam rushing out from his pale blue lips.

And then it struck me, I need to save him now. It's now or never.