Hi guys! Thanks for keeping up with the story so far! So, I made some changes in the previous chapters. I wanted to revise it, and I've added more Angus (yay, Angive!) and just fixed some weird spots in the story. I encourage you to go back and read the parts I've changed. So that's it, enjoy this chapter!
Boom.
What woke me up the next morning, when the sun was just beginning to rise, was a cannon blast. I almost fell out of the tree. Thank goodness I was tied in.
Heart racing, I quieted and listened to the sounds around me. Some sort of bird was singing in the trees, a simple whistled tune. I sighed, and I felt a lot more relaxed.
"Woohoo!" A shout rang out from the forest below me. My eyes shot open again. There were more excited screams coming from the same area. I untied the rope around my waist. Whoever they were, I needed to leave this place or they would find me.
Quickly, I climbed down the tree and began walking away from where the shouts were. My leg muscles were sore from yesterday's running, and the cut on my arm had scabbed up. I felt gross from not brushing my teeth, and I could just feel the grime all over my body... Yuck.
So, what to do today? My stomach grumbled. Oh, yeah. Find food and water. There had to be some in this huge arena, otherwise it'd be pretty boring Games. I just needed to look. I kept on walking in the same direction.
After I kept going for what I guessed was 20 minutes, I stopped in my tracks. Wait, it I was going away from the Cornucopia, wasn't I going away from where the tributes would hang about? What if Fletcher was in there? As I walked farther away from the center, I was possibly walking farther away from him.
I decided that I should stop worrying about it and keep going. First water, then Fletcher. My mouth was dry, I needed hydration.
After what felt like forever, in the distance I could see a tiny pool of water. Thirstily, I ran up to it. I almost dunked my head in and started drinking, but then I got a good look at the condition of the water pool. It was dirty.
I pulled out the empty water canteen and iodine bottle from my backpack. Scooping it in the water, I got a good amount, then I dropped in a small amount of iodine and closed the lid. Now, to wait. While I waited, I climbed a tree and tied myself in again, for safety. Off the ground was safer.
I thought it had been about a half hour, so I opened the canteen and drank the water thirstily. It was big enough to quench my thirst and fill me up with water. Delicious, sweet water. I didn't even care that it was warm, I was so thankful for it.
I climbed down from the branches and got another canteen full, and added more iodine. This was a perfect spot. I was far from the Cornucopia, I had a water source, and good tree to sleep in. I could spend the Games here, just waiting for everyone else to kill each other off...
But Fletcher! Cameron! Still, I could just... hide here... get some more sleep...
Boom.
I woke up again, but this time, not to a cannon. At first I thought I was dreaming when my eyes opened to see orange and red dancing all over the place. Then I felt heat, and found that the forest around me was on fire.
I hastily untied the rope that held me down. When the knot came undone, I almost slipped and fell 30 feet through the air. I scrambled down the tree and jumped the last 5 feet. Ow, my ankle! No, I had to keep running!
As I bolted away from the fire, I passed the little pool of water that I had treasured while I had it. That may have been my only water source for a long time. I was glad I had a canteen in my bag.
Flames licked my jacket and it caught fire. I shrieked and kept running, even faster now, but that made the flames worse. I violently shrugged off my backpack, one of the straps broke, and tore off the jacket. Grabbing the backpack again, I left the jacket to burn as I kept going.
Crack. Boom.
It was too late when I found out that a tree was falling. A fiery branch landed right on top of my right leg, and I screamed in pain as I fell to the ground. The searing heat made me jerk away, and my leg came free. I knew I was badly burned, without even looking. Another tree was falling, and if I didn't move, I would be cooked to a crisp. Somehow I crawled out of the way in time, and pick myself up and ran.
I ran until I found a pond. Without hesitation, I threw myself into it, choking at the pain of the water hitting my burned leg and injured arm.
"Hey, look!" said a voice. Oh please, not now. Any time but now.
"Get her!" said another voice, no doubt Lexi's. Four running figures came from behind a rock, and I dashed out of the water and bolted. It took them a while to cross the river, and I used that time to climb a tree up high. I was wet and cold, shivering, and the burn on my leg stung with pain, but I clung onto the tree branch for dear life.
"Well, climb it," I heard from right below me. I didn't even want to look down. Whoever was going to climb the tree was going to catch up to me and kill me. This was my death.
"Ow!" I looked down to see where the noise came from. I was really high up in the air, which freaked me out, and Lexi's attack group looked like bugs to me. One of them, David, I thought, was laying on the ground and Lexi (I could it was her tell because of her extremely shiny blonde hair) was kneeling beside him. I could hear her high-pitched voice from up in the tree, comforting David.
"I'll do it," announced Vanessa. She started to climb, and got about a quarter way to where I was, and then a branch snapped from underneath her feet. She fell, and caught herself by grabbing a branch with one hand. She quickly climbed back down.
"Lexi, try shooting," she commanded, and the blonde obeyed, grabbing a bow off of her back, and an arrow from her quiver. Oh, no, please don't. She loaded the arrow, pulled back, and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the worst.
Something made a "clunk" below me. Still holding on tight to the tree trunk, I looked to see that the arrow had went up about fifteen feet, then turned and fallen and stuck into a tree branch. Lexi couldn't shoot high enough to hit me. I relaxed. I watched her, almost amused, load another arrow, and then someone ran through the bushes.
"Stop," the person said. They held a bow in their hand, and their face was covered in a hood. The person shook off the hood, revealing their face. Wait a second... It was... No, it couldn't be... It was Fletcher!
"What?" said Lexi, angrily.
"Wait, no, I mean, you're only wasting your arrows," explained Fletcher quickly. "She's got to come down sometime. We can wait her out, make camp here." Great suggestion, genius. Now I'd be stuck up there, with limited food and water, while they waited for me to come down so they could kill me. Who's side was he on?
"Not bad, A.N.T. Maybe allying with you wasn't such a bad idea."
I bit my lip to keep from screaming. He made an alliance with the people that ganged up to kill people? I couldn't believe that just earlier, I was trying to find him. No way was he getting my apology now.
"I almost caught the twin girl, from Band," bragged Fletcher, slinging the bow on his back. It looked like he was trying to act tough. I grit my teeth.
Vanessa sat down on the ground. "Go collect wood for fire with Paisley," she ordered, ignoring Fletcher's act. Fletcher stood for a second, hesitating, then he walked off to collect twigs as told. Paisley did the same, leaving obediently. Fletcher walked to the other side of the tree and looked up at me. I scowled and turned my head away.
Well, better get comfortable. With great difficulty, because of my burned leg, I turned around on the tree branch, so that I was sitting with my back to the trunk. My burn stung badly, even when nothing was touching it. I could barely look at it without feeling sick, it was so blistered and bloody.
I pulled my backpack around and got out the half of the rope I had left. I lost most of it in the fire. Now, I could only tie myself down once and not loop the rope around me twice.
I also took out the extra jacket and put it on. Thank goodness I had it. The other one burned away, and the night before was very cold. I would need it. Next, I grabbed the water bottle. I had to something about this burn.
I unscrewed the lid and brought it right above my burn. I tried pouring some on, but instead of relieving the pain like I thought it would, it made it hurt so bad that I almost dropped my precious water bottle. I squeaked but didn't scream.
But I had to do something. I poured water into my cupped hands, and counted down from three, then dropped my hands. It stung again, and this time, I almost fell out of the tree.
Feeling dehydrated, I took a small gulp of water. Great, I only had half the bottle left. I'd have to draw it out for... Well, for however long Vanessa's hunting group kept me trapped in the tree.
Below me, the group made a fire as the sun went down. I watched the fire crackle as I shivered, jealous, when the music from the night before played again. My eyes turned to the skies.
The projection that night showed only one person, that one cannon that scared me awake. It was a chubby-faced girl from District 7.
Soon, the fire on the ground died down, and Vanessa told Fletcher to grab a bit more fire fuel. She probably would have sent Paisley, too, but the poor girl was curled up, asleep, away from the group. Fletcher reluctantly left, a little deeper into the dark woods, to retrieve what was asked for. I listened in to the whispered conversation the rest of the group had.
"I don't know," said Lexi.
"I think we should just kill him now. He's useless," said Vanessa.
"No he's not. Look what he's doing now," whispered David. "He's great for sending to do jobs. He's scared we'll kill him otherwise."
"Guys, why did we ally with him anyway?" Lexi sighed.
"Because," insisted Vanessa. "He's... useful."
"'Nessa, it kinda was dumb. 'Join us or die.' I mean of course he's going to choose life over instant death," argued David.
Vanessa leaned back. "Lover Boy's a sponsor magnet," she said. "We need that."
Suddenly, I felt sorry for feeling so mad at Fletcher earlier. So that's why he was with them. He was being held captive, like I was right now. They were calling him "Lover Boy," and planning to use sponsor gifts that were supposed to be meant for him. I wanted to crush Vanessa.
Fletcher emerged from the shadows, carrying more wood. Vanessa didn't actually add it to the fire, but instead told the others that they should get some sleep. Lexi curled up next to David (eww, yuck) and Vanessa against a tree, and they fell asleep.
By the faint light of the moon, I watched Fletcher intently. He held his knees to his chest, and looked up at me. I didn't know if he could tell from this high up, but I waved and smiled, an apologetic smile, as if to say, "we're still friends." He waved too, weakly.
Something made a tinkling sound, like a wind chime, or music box, above me. I looked to where it was coming from. A small box, attached to a silver parachute, was sitting about two branches away. Huh? For me?
I untied myself just enough to reach to grab it. I yanked the box from the parachute and sat back down. Curiously, I opened it. Inside was a note and a jar.
Apply to burn, remember the plan - O & A
I sighed, frustratedly, upon seeing the note. Quickly, I crumpled it and threw it in my backpack.
Now for the jar. I opened it, and found creamy white liquid inside. I dipped in my fingers, and they felt cooled. Yes, relief... I smeared the stuff on my burn, and the red slowly disappeared. I put on another scoop. Soon, the burn was all healed, just a little pink. Hopefully, I applied the very last of the medicine to the cut on my arm. It had the same effect, and the wound healed.
"Thank you," I said aloud, to the sky. Thank you, Olive and Angus. Thank you, sponsors.
Relieved and extremely happy, I leaned against the tree and fell into a sweet sleep.