Haymitch's Story

JoannaReads

Chapter 10

When the sun starts to go down, I decide to stop running. Over the course of about four hours, I have heard eighteen canons. I walk a little until I find a small stream and sit to organize the backpack I took. Inside, I find a water bottle and some iodine, bandages of all shapes and sizes, a little kit to make snares, a blanket, two packets of dried fruit and meat, a telescope, and finally, buried at the bottom of the pack, a watch. I can find uses for everything that's in here except the watch. It's not like I'm going to need it, I can tell if it is night or day simply by looking at the sky. I study it, and find that it is not only a clock, but an alarm. What a stupid idea. Sure, the alarm will wake me up, but how about anyone that is close enough to hear it? It can give away my definite location within seconds. I think about this and decide to test it out with the watch on. Surely the Gamemakers wouldn't put it in this pack if it were useless. I fasten it on to my wrist and set the alarm for one minute from now.

When the minute is up, instead of a loud noise coming out of it, the watch shocks me. It sends electrical pulses down my arm, stinging only slightly, but definitely getting me alarmed. The best part is it's sound-free. I smile and tuck everything back into my pack except the blanket. Behind the stream, there is a large dome-shaped rock that will keep me out of sight of anyone, including Careers, deciding to do a little late-night killing.

I settle the blanket so it is both under me and over me, and wait for the anthem, and the faces of the dead tributes. I can't help but worry about Maysilee, my only friend here. She could be dead right now. Bled white. The color from her usually rosy cheeks gone, leaving nothing but- . The Capitol anthem snaps me out of my reverie. Whatever Maysilee's status currently is, dead or alive, I'm going to find out right now.

The tributes faces start with one of the girls and one of the boys from three. Then one girl from five. One girl and two boys from six. All from seven, one boy from eight. The girls from nine. Everyone except one boy from ten. The screen skips eleven and flashes on twelve. Martin's face, full of sadness, flashes on the screen. Then it flips. There is still one more left. Will it be Maysilee? No, it's Alison. Cold, desperate eyes full of hate on her normally pretty face. Then the anthem ends and the screen fades to black.

I feel bad for Alison. She hadn't always been so terrible. The Games changed her drastically. And then there's Martin. Poor, twelve year old Martin. I can't help but wonder who would have such hate as to kill a child. I set my alarm to five hours from now and fall asleep slowly, listening to the sound of crickets.

I am awoken three hours later, a dreadful pain spreading across my arm. I look around, wondering what could be the matter, when I see it. A head, emerge from the darkness. Followed by another, and another, until the entire Career pack comes out.

I press myself up against the rock, hopefully obscuring myself from their view. They talk and laugh about their kills.

"And we even made her kill that little boy we captured…. What was his name? Mack, Marlo?"

Everyone laughs and one of them says "Martin."

"The best part was when she started begging for her life… such a fool…"one of the guys' chuckles.

One of the girls- I think from four- starts to whine, "When will we find mooorree?"

"All in good time, Joy, all in good time," says the boy from two.

Then they walk away, never seeing me. I sigh with extreme relief. I'm alive… but why? If I hadn't been awoken-. Then a thought pops into my mind. My watch will be an extreme benefit to me in the arena. Because not only does it wake me up, it tells me when other tributes are close.