Chapter 10.
Survival
Peeta
I let my eyes adjust to the surroundings. There was the cornucopia, the clearing surrounded by a weird forest. I panicked, there didn't seem to be enough people here. Where are the other tributes? I found Katniss and looked for the other members of our alliance. All the victors were there… but…where is Madge?! I started to panic, I caught Johanna looking at Katniss motioning for her to calm down. Apparently she had missed Gale and began the panic that I was.
The countdown began for the 60 seconds tributes had to stay on their plates. Johanna had taken in her surroundings, motioning for us to go into the woods straight behind us on the edge of the clearing. I focused, I didn't know these woods. I had only seen them in books and pictures, a strange and faraway word coming to mind... A jungle. I didn't know what lurked, and didn't have much time to think about it.
5
4
3
2
1
….
I saw Katniss grab the nearest bag and head for the jungle beyond the clearing. Enobaria had found a knife and threw it at Katniss, I sighed relief when it hit her backpack. That meant we had a weapon. I ran following her, and the fight was on.
Gale
This was weird. I saw the cornucopia, same as every year. I saw the tributes around me. I counted quickly, only 24. Weird again. I found Madge, she looked panicked too, probably looking for Peeta. That was one thing she had to worry about that I didn't: I knew Katniss could survive until I found her. Every second Madge wasn't next to Peeta could easily be his or her last.
The countdown seemed to go slower the closer it got to one. Madge caught my eye again, gesturing to the jungle behind us. I nodded. Finding our alliance was the main thing. I didn't know if the victors were lurking there or not, but luckily a backpack was less than 20 feet to my right. I could grab it, join Madge and begin to hunt for Katniss. Joining and protecting Madge was the very least I could do for Peeta considering how he kept Katniss alive last year with his "star-crossed lovers" thing.
When the gong sounded, I took off. The Hunger Games had begun.
By the time Madge and I had fled to the jungle, I had counted 19 cannons. Usually that would seem like a lot considering a normal games only has 24. But with double the tributes, this wasn't unusual. Madge and I found a decently concealed spot before looking over the backpacks she and I had grabbed. Madge had three weapons—all knives—a sleeping bag, a canteen of water, and a small dropper full of iodine. I was thankful for Katniss for mentioning iodine was to purify water. I told Madge to start purifying the canteen—you could never be too careful in the arena.
My backpack was more helpful in some ways and less in others: dried fruit, dried meat, rope, wire, and an empty canteen. Wire. I smiled to Madge, "So we didn't get very lucky with weapons, but this should keep us alive until we find the others," I motioned to the wire.
She nudged my shoulder, "Don't worry, Gale. My snares will catch the animals and your cooking can feed us." I snorted, glad the playful banter was still present and nobody was really concerned with killing each other yet.
"Hah, hah. Very funny Madge. Before we set up camp or any snares, we should find the others. The Careers will start hunting everyone not in an alliance tonight. And if they came across us..."
"We would have zero chance of defending ourselves."
"Exactly. If night falls and we can't see or hear them, we'll find a nice tree and tie ourselves in."
I grimaced at the thought of sharing a sleeping bag with her, it would just be my luck if the audience got the wrong idea. We packed up the few things we had, drank a little of the water, and set out.
A few hours later, I felt as if all we had done was walk in circles. It was so infuriating that I wasn't at home listening to the commentators and figuring out what was going on. I also didn't know this type of woods. Madge said it was a jungle, that she had seen it in some of her father's books. That made sense, it also explained why you couldn't climb the trees.
Madge wanted to keep going. She said she wasn't comfortable here and wanted to keep pressing. I figured it was a good idea to cover as much ground as we could.
Madge smiled when she saw a mockingjay, pointing to it so she didn't scare it away; luck was finally starting to turn my way. I called out Rue's whistle that Katniss and I had agreed on. Maybe she was waiting for me close by. I crossed my fingers, repeated the whistle, and began another trek.
Katniss
I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard it. Rue's whistle? Was this a gamemaker trick? Surely not. Surely the birds wouldn't remember it from last year. Do they even use the same animals for different arenas? It didn't matter; that was the signal we agreed on, so I waited for the birds to stop before I repeated it, adding another note. Johanna, Beetee, Peeta and Wiress just stared at me.
"What? Gale and I agreed on that signal last night so we could find each other."
Johanna smirked, "Good. We need to find your boyfriend and make camp before the sun goes down."
I blushed, "he isn't my boyfriend, Johanna."
The stare she gave me reminded me of the cameras close, I needed to play them. "Sure fooled me, brainless."
I let myself blush even deeper, letting out a giggle. I wondered where Gale was, if he was thinking of me, I hoped he wasn't dead. I didn't know what I would do with myself if Gale ceased to exist. I stopped myself, pulling on a mask of emotionlessness. I looked to Peeta and realized he had done the same. I grabbed his shoulder in reassurance, "Gale wouldn't have left her. They're together and he just sent me the signal to show that they're okay." He smiled.
Johanna, being the meanest and deadliest, took the lead. She handed her knife to Peeta and he took the back for protection. She didn't want to stop to look at our packs until we got out of what she called a jungle. She had managed to grab two axes and a knife before running with Peeta and me to the edge of the trees where we silently waited for Beetee and Wiress.
We had heard pursuit, Peeta flexing up protectively—not soon enough. Johanna had already buried an axe into the neck of whoever this unlucky guy was (I didn't even know his name). I laughed and caught her eye, she chuckled. "If I gotta kill somebody because of the Capitol, I'm doing it on my terms." She cleaned her axes, collected the guy's spear, and we began to search for Gale and Madge.
An hour before dusk, we stopped our search and realized it would just have to wait till morning. My face fell, and i felt as if Peeta's had done the same. Johanna had somehow killed two squirrels with her axes...I had seen it with my own eyes and still didn't believe it. So i made a quick fire and gutted, skinned, and cooked them. The group split the meager meal and started talking.
"I wonder where they are, I just really hope they're together. Gale can survive on his own... Madge has never been in the wild," Peeta remarked.
"You survived for days without Katniss, brainless. She'll be fine," replied Johanna. At her comment, Peeta smiled. He didn't need to be comforted, neither did I.
We divided up watches, switching axes and knives. Peeta, Johanna, and I were the only three that took shifts. Not only because two of the three wouldn't be able to sleep, but because three of the three wouldn't rest easy with Mags, Beetee, or Wiress guarding us.
At dawn, Johanna, who had taken the last watch, woke us and we packed up. Not that there was alot to pack up, we hadn't gotten many supplies.
We walked for a few hours, finding a stream and purifying the water. "Johanna, we should stay along this stream. Once Gale realizes finding us won't be easy, the first thing he's going to look for is water."
"Okay, brainless. Maybe you should try your bird call every so often."
I nodded and whistled the four notes on and off again for a few hours, heart sinking each time it wasn't sung back.
We kept walking, Peeta becoming more anxious with every step, it irritated me. I could barely hear the sounds of the woods as it was, his loud ass footfalls were making it impossible. Johanna followed my thoughts, and we yelled at Peeta to quiet down at the same time before smiling at each other.
As it got quieter from our group, I began to hear even more than i thought possible. Distant birds calling to one another, multiple streams lazily flowing, and humans. One pair of distinctly obvious footfalls, and another's steps…a hunter's steps. Gale. I decided to use the bird call again, the mockingjays reflecting and relaying it. I waited and heard his voice in a teething whisper, "she's close, the calls are closer together," he waited a minute before whistling the song back.
Hm, odd again. Gale must think I'm farther than I am, and he's trying to avoid someone following him. I pulled back the branches and the words had barely left my mouth when Johanna let another axe fly, straight into the heart of a district two tribute. Madge screamed bloody murder at the horrors of witnessing her first murder until Gale covered her mouth. I wondered why Johanna didn't insult her, but dismissed the thought. She was probably in shock from killing again. Gale quickly turned around and swore very loudly. Exclaiming, "I didn't even know he was on our tails!" before he saw me. But when he did, the world stopped. He was at my side in four long strides and had me in his arms another spilt second later. "I missed you," he breathed into my ear, "I was so worried about you."
We stayed that way until Johanna coughed loudly. We caught up with Peeta and Madge, distributed weapons (Beetee's eyes going wide when he saw Gale's wire), and began to find a place where we could set up for the night.