Chapter 10:

Skyla's POV:

I heard a piercing scream coming nearby. And the voice made my blood freeze. How is my sister in the arena and what is making her scream in pain? Unconsciously, I start running towards the scream. I break through the woods into a small clearing.

I see fourteen creatures that look like cats except they stand well over 4 feet. Mutts. Several of them a walking away, except one has jumped on a boy. I recognize him as the boy Falkner from 10 right before the mutt bites at his throat. His cannon goes off and the mutt disappears into a hole. All of the mutts have left the clearing except for one.

It's staring right at me and is growling. It opens its mouth and let's out the scream I thought was my sister. Then it runs towards me. I throw a knife at it and it lands in its shoulder, but doesn't stop it. It takes a swipe at my leg with its four-inch claws, making deep wounds. I scream out in pain and start stabbing at it. I manage to stab it right in the neck and it falls over dead.

My leg is bleeding badly and I can't walk on it. I drag myself into a nearby bush to try to hide.

Elesa's POV:

I am hunting down tributes in the morning. I already came across a giant cat mutt that let out the scream of my mother. I quickly shot it with a bow and arrow before it could attack me with its razor-sharp claws or teeth. Since no other mutts attacked me, I realized that there are one for each tribute. So since I killed mine, I don't have to worry about them anymore.

I'm walking quietly deeper into the forest. I notice a trail of blood on the ground. I kneel down and touch it. Still fresh. I follow the trail with my eyes and notices that it leads directly into a nearby bush. I pull an arrow out of my sheath and load my bow. I pull the string back slowly and point right at the bush. Then I let it fly.

A girl lets out a short scream and then her cannon goes off. I go to her body and pull out my arrow. It's the girl from 11, but I don't really care. It's one less tribute left in the arena.

I walk away to go hunt for my next target.

Lauren's POV:

I wake up suddenly when Gabriella covers my mouth with her hand. She quietly points down to the ground below our tree. Thinking it's a tribute, I get a knife out to throw.

I look down and see two giant cats stalking our tree. They clearly know we are up here. Mutts, I mouth at Gabriella. She gets a knife out as well. One of the cats opens up its mouth and I hear the sound of Kendall screaming.

No, I think. How could they get that scream. I am in a daze and I hear the whiz of a knife flying through the air. The scream is cut off in a gurgle.

"Lauren? Lauren, are you ok? It was just a mutt! It's supposed to target your weaknesses! That was not really Kendall!" Gabriella is frantically shaking me, trying to get me out of my trance. I shake my head and look at her. I give her a smile to let her know I'm ok now.

Then the other mutt starts screaming, except this time it's Lucius' voice. I don't hesitate to throw an ax and decapitate it. But it has already done its job. Gabriella is sitting next to me sobbing. I pull her into a hug and just comfort her for a while.

After a little bit, I climb down the tree to collect our weapons. I climb back up and we eat some rabbit. After, we pack up to get moving since the mutts made too much noise near our tree.

I hit the ground quietly and look around for any tributes. Seeing nobody, I motion for Gabriella to come down. We get our packs on and are about to start walking when I hear the scream from another mutt. It's nobody I know, but it's close. Which means the tribute it's meant for is close as well.

"Run," I say quietly and we take off in the opposite direction of the scream. But I can hear the sound of someone crashing through the trees. "Hurry! Climb up that tree!"

We start climbing as quickly as possible. We are about halfway up the tree when we see Cress slowly walking past. We stay absolutely silent and don't move at all. He doesn't realize we are up in the tree. He must think we are hiding somewhere on the ground. Luckily, he keeps walking past.

I wait awhile, and make sure that he is out of earshot before I say anything. "That," I say, "was extremely close. Too close for my taste." She nods her head in agreement.

"Let's just stay here for the rest of the day," she suggests. "I don't want to go walking around on the ground in case he is still nearby."

So we set up camp in a sturdy forked branch. We just sit and talk quietly for the rest of the evening. A couple times we hear another scream of a mutt, but it is nowhere near our tree.

Night is finally falling, and then the anthem appears in the sky. First the boy Falkner from District 10 is shown. Then Skyla from 11. Then the seal appears again and the sky goes dark.

"Lauren," Gabriella whispers. "I'm scared to go to sleep. I'm worried the gamemakers are going to send in some new terror during the night."

"I don't think they will because they had quite a bit of action today, but if it makes you feel better, we can take shifts being on guard duty. I'll take first shift," I say.

"Thanks Lauren," she says, and tucks herself down into the sleeping bag. She is asleep in a few minutes.

I stay awake for several hours, but nothing happens. I decide to not wake Gabriella up for watch. At some point, I fell asleep, but nothing happened in the night to wake me up.