Chapter 9
The four stayed where they were, watching me, until I had calmed down enough to reestablish my breathing pattern. Finally, when I called out to them that I was fine, they joined me. We made a circle and discussed the events.
"Well we all know Tara is dead," said Lyliss. "After she was fighting that District 10 girl, she got her mace thrown out of her hand, and that boy from 6 attacked her before she could get another weapon. Damn, that 10 girl could fight. Does anyone remember what her score got?"
"Four," I told them, trying very hard to let on that I knew very little about Tellee. "What weapon was she using?" I asked, trying not to sound curious.
"Sword," said Lyliss. She seemed to be the only who was had seen the altercation.
"Anyone else worth noting?" asked Bane. He opened the question to all.
"I fought the girl from 6," I said. "She was pretty good with knives, but I think I broke her right wrist and she didn't seem as confident with her left."
"The boy from 8 attacked me and we fought for a couple minutes, then his partner told him it was time to clear out," noted Adonnis. Other than that, most people we fought were killed…
We started gathering the remaining supplies from around the cornucopia. Each of us was armed to the teeth as the supplies were spread far and wide. If you were in trouble, it could be a while before help could reach you.
We piled the supplies at the mouth of the cornucopia. There was plenty of everything. Enough weapons to last the entire games, enough food to last about two weeks, enough medical supplies to last through numerous battles. We were set as long as we didn't lose this.
Just after we had gotten all the supplies back, the cannons went off, telling us how many had died at the initial blood bath. We counted nine in total. Only nine. That left fifteen, fourteen I would have to kill.
It was late afternoon when we got around to eating. We started a fire with some tinder, but it wasn't enough to get the flame hot enough. We would have to go looking for more.
We decided on the fall section for two reasons: it was one of the two sections whose wood would be dry, and probably wasn't the hiding place of many tributes. We figured that most tributes would go the "summer" route.
Even though we doubted that there was anyone within two miles of us, Lyliss and I merely walked in ten yards to gather wood. We didn't know if there could be traps waiting for us, and we didn't want to risk it.
Even in that small space of land we covered, I noticed some things about that section of the forest. It was beautiful, for one. The temperature was just right, not too hot, not too cold; however, I also noticed that the beautiful leaves that fell to the ground were horribly noisy. I'm sure I could hear someone in these leaves at least fifty yards away.
When we got back, these revelations sparked our conversation. We sat discussing the pros and cons of each of the sections of the forest.
Spring: It was bad that it was raining, but surely the temperature was bearable if you could stay dry. There were a couple of tarps that we had gathered from that area, and it was entirely possible that someone else had too. Also, there were sure to be edible plants and fresh game.
Summer: Summer seemed the obvious choice to go hunt people down in. Sure, it was hot, but that was about the only thing wrong with it. There were sure to be animals a plenty. We would be starting our hunting there that night.
Fall: This section, too, was sure to have plants and animals to eat, and it would be easy to hide in there. But the leaves made it hard not to draw attention to yourself, and that was a clear disadvantage.
Winter: The disadvantages were clear enough. If the frigid temperature weren't enough, there were sure to be very few animals to eat or plants to use. Someone who could survive in there either had to be really smart or have really good sponsors.
We would start our hunting in the summer section. We knew we would find most of the dumber tributes there, and we didn't want to have to weed out the others until we had a clear field. We decided to wait for dark though.
We sat around the fire for some time while the last rays of sunshine disappeared over the horizon, soaking up the fact that we were still alive. Finally, as the arena was finally encased in night, a screen high in the sky appeared, showing the seal of the capitol for all tributes to see. The anthem was blaring out of unseen speakers, almost loud enough to hurt your ears.
The first face we saw was Tara. She was followed by both from 3, then the girl from 5. Next came the boy from 6, then the girl from 7, then the boy from 11, and both from 12. I had kind of hoped that Tzarro would die the first day so that I wouldn't have to decide if I was going to help them of not, but I was still relieved to see that he was alive.
With that out of the way, we started gathering the supplies we would need to go hunting. We all dropped our big white coats as we had made camp on the border of spring and summer, but we kept the light black jackets on. They were easy to carry and would conceal us better in the summer night.
We drew pieces of grass to see who would stay and keep watch. Undin pulled the long straw, so he grudgingly sat back on his sleeping bag. His job would be made easier by something Lyliss found. She had emptied a backpack to use for carrying knives, and inside, she found a pair of darkness glasses that he could use to patrol. We didn't have time to search the rest of the packs, but if there was one pair, there could be more.
We, Lyliss, Adonnis, Bane, and I set off into the summer section. Each of us had a flashlight, a backpack with a few items of our choice, and food in case we got separated. We each also carried a weapon. Bane and Adonnis each had swords. Lyliss had a mace, and I had a bow and quiver of arrows as well as a few throwing knives tucked into my belt.
We didn't really encounter anything for a while. I was exhausted, and it probably wasn't a good idea to be out here after a long day of fighting. I still had a few cuts and bruises where I had been scraped. Nothing major, but it was still getting annoying.
We didn't speak at all, and we did our best to make as little noise as possible. The lack of sound was eerie, but we were confident that we would hear anything happening.
We had been walking for about two hours when we heard the first sound. It was a scream, a girl's. She seemed to be quiet after that one shriek, but we followed the noise. We heard another scream, the same girl but it was much closer.
We ran straight towards the noise, but something cut us short. It was the sound of a cannon, probably the girl's. We kept running though, and we came across a clearing.
The girl was dangling from a tree, one leg caught in a snare. Her head lay on the ground under her, covered by the blood cascading down from her body. Lyliss retched.
Just then, we saw a movement. It was a figure, running from the scene. He was a good thirty yards away when our flashlights glinted off his long, thin sword.
I tried to pretend that that wasn't who I thought it was. I tried to pretend that I didn't know that wavy brown hair. I tried to pretend that I didn't know that muscular back.
The only problem was that I did know who it was.
It was Tzarro.
The pack ran after him without a moment's hesitation. He was fast, faster than all of us. We had the advantage only in numbers and light. He had the advantage of speed, and most likely, he was familiar with this area.
All of a sudden, he disappeared from view. We had no idea where he went, so we turned around and followed the path in the foliage we had made back to the clearing.
The body of the girl had been picked up by a hovercraft, but the scene was still there, as were her supplies.
She had hung from a rope by her left ankle. The snare was perfect in every way, and we found the rock that had been used to pull her from the ground.
In her small green pack, she had a length of rope, a bottle of water, a bottle of antiseptic, and a pair of scissors that she had disassembled to form two long imposing blades.
We took her pack with all the supplies as well as the rope from the snare. Hopefully, this was all the rope Tzarro had, and he wouldn't be setting any more snares any time soon.
On the way back, we discussed "the boy". I didn't tell them that I knew it was Tzarro, and they didn't figure it out on their own.
The fact that Tzarro was a killer was news to me. I assumed he had gotten his high score in training doing something innovative and creative, not showing skill as a murderer. But at this point, I didn't think it was a good idea to be surprised by anything that happened.
These were the Hunger Games, after all…
