Chapter 9: What lingers beneath
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
With shaky hands I scribble the number six on my arm and quickly secure my marker back around my neck.
"Do you think they will follow us?" Dany asks, looking back in the direction we came. A howl erupts from somewhere off in the distance.
"I...I don't know. They were a bit busy with…" I can't say her name. Or the name we had given her. I didn't even know her real name and yet what I just saw will haunt me forever.
I didn't stick around after Foxface's cannon, taking off into the forest the moment the wolves were distracted. And if the past hour was anything to go by, they didn't stay distracted for long. The howls are frequent but it's hard to say if they're behind or in front of us. We keep moving. The other tributes are the least of our worries now. Six were killed in the bloodbath including Foxface, which leaves eighteen out there somewhere. I know four of those, the careers, are behind us. I can only assume they had taken refuge on top of the cornucopia. Thresh is also a problem. He had come through this way and there's no reason why he couldn't still be here.
"What's in the pack?" says Dany as he jogs up beside me. I almost laugh when I remember the small leather satchel slung over my shoulder. Where we stop is rather covered but I step behind a large tree to open up the bag. My eyes light up when I look inside. Dany, peering closer, lets out a laugh.
"A knife?" I'm rather puzzled by the find. The Gamemakers usually like you to work for the weapons. However, the knife is small in its sheath so perhaps it wasn't intended as a weapon. I slide it out, none the less, and pass it to Dany. The second I do a cannon goes off and he quickly unsheathes it. One more down. The rest of the pack is standard. A ball of string, a small pack of raisins and a piece of tarp. Unfortunately there's no flint or water.
"Let's keep moving Dan" Despite the burning sensation in our legs we set out again. This time I keep scanning for a water source but as the sky begins to darken my thoughts drift to finding shelter.
"It's not that high" I lean over the nearest branch and take the knife from Dany's hand. I tuck it securely in my boot.
"Says the person already safe in the tree"
"Grab my hand already"
"Haymitch would want us to find some water" Dany looks up at me nervously. He's clearly not fond of my choice of shelter for the night. It has to be better than sleeping on the ground. I don't want to think about the nasties that might come out at night.
"Yes. Let's go searching for water in the middle of the night. Perhaps we could ask the wolves or the careers where to look"
"No need to be mean" he grumbles and looks at his feet.
"Just get in the tree" My voice rises a little but is immediately silenced by a long lingering howl through the darkness. The wolves seem to be getting closer. Dany is up beside me before I can blink.
Lying back, the length of the day finally hits me and the pull of sleep begins to take over. I shake my head. I have to stay awake for the anthem. Dany doesn't have the same idea. He sleeps soundlessly, his head resting on my shoulder. At night the arena becomes a lot less friendly. The wolves are always a constant in my mind. It's their calls to each other that keep me awake. I wonder if the other tributes can hear them. Are they as worried about them as I am? Thinking of my fellow tributes only increases my worries. The arena is so dark now that I can't see anyone coming. They could be right underneath us. I peer between the foliage to ground below. As expected I can barely make out the trunk of our tree before it descends into the black. Just as I pull my head back, a light erupts from overhead and the booming chords of the capitol anthem begin to play.
Dany shuffles and lifts his head to see the faces of the now dead tributes. I quickly grab my marker. On my arm I write them down as they come: D3 boy, D4 girl, D4 boy, Foxface, D9 girl, D10 boy and lastly D12 boy. As a last minute thought I put a line through each of their names.
The anthem is playing its last strains as the capitol seal appears. I look away in attempt to hide my disgust but I find something much more alarming. In the light of the seal I notice movement under our tree. It's quick but unmistakeable. A black figure hops over to its base, collapsing against it as the arena falls into darkness.
"What is it?" Dany whispers but I shush him. I squint and will my eyes to see further.
"There's someone under the tree" The moment he hears those words I can see the tension cross his face. I sit back in my previous position. "I can't see who it is but he's injured" From his build I can only assume that he's male.
We don't speak after that. Noise is the only thing that will give us away. I do my best not to move but after ten minutes the familiar burning returns to my legs. Dany is unsettled as well and shifts to get a better position. The moment he does his boot inches forward, upturning a small stick. My reaction is to reach for it but that would only cause further noise. It's silent as the stick falls in slow motion from the tree and with a distinct crack it hits the ground. I freeze. I hope to god Dany has done the same. We can't get stuck up here. Whoever it is might be injured but it's the injured ones that have more fight. Out of all the trees, why this one?
Somewhere in the darkness there's another crack, almost identical to our one. Maybe we spooked him. Maybe he might move on.
Another crack. That one sounded further away, off to the right. Surely he couldn't be moving that fast. Dany who is closest to the sound leans over his side of the tree. Crack. My stomach does a flip, leaving me feeling quite uneasy. This time is comes from the left.
Our injured friend isn't alone down there.
With an explosion of noise, the silence is broken. I can vaguely hear the sound of footsteps before there's another crash. Our tree shakes violently as something slams up against it. I grip onto a branch for dear life. A scream pierces through the commotion. It's filled with such agony that I can only assume the careers have him. Another impact hits the tree and this time I'm slammed into Dany. Leaves fall down onto our heads. What are they doing to him? I feel a wave of sympathy for the boy below. No one deserves this.
He's still screaming in pain when I hear the snarls. The snarls which could only belong to the pack of wolves. I gag, hearing the sound of crunching bone. And then suddenly I can't hear anything. The sounds are muffled, distorted. I look over at Dany and mouth my thanks to the little boy who is so much braver than he lets on. His hands are clamped tightly over my ears, blocking out the noise from below. I take his hands from my ears before forcing them on his own. He's the one who has to live through this. It doesn't matter what will haunt me these coming the nights. The noise becomes less and less until only the occasional growl can be heard. I keep listening though, just in case someone is stupid enough to pass through this way.
Cato POV
"I think they got one" Marvel chuckles loudly, staring out into the darkness. "We should go check it out"
"And become wolf bait ourselves. Nice idea, idiot" His district partner Glimmer slaps him across the back of head. The two of them have been arguing ever since we left the cornucopia. I wanted to leave them behind but with Clove and I out hunting, there would be nothing to stop them disappearing into the night. With our supplies.
"There might be more out that way" he argues back. This time he looks to Clove for support. I barely hold back a snort.
"Be my guest" she says with a deadly smirk. She would like nothing more to get rid of Marvel but we need him. They continue to argue so I step in.
"Were heading back. We can't leave the supplies unguarded any longer"
"I knew we should have kept the runt alive" Someone finally says as we begin to leave.
I glance back into the forest. The occasional growl erupting from its depths. A cannon fires and something deep inside me hopes it isn't her.
A/N: just quick thanks to everyone who put this on fav/alert/review. It keeps me going. We're finally getting down to the good stuff.
