Day One: Lorna and Raul
She heard the first screams and saw a belt with knives about three feet away.
She dove for them and then felt a weight atop her. Trying to pull her off.
She turned and the knife in her hand accidently hit her attacker in the stomach.
It was the girl from One.
And she looked shocked. But she was dying. Lorna was horrified and in her stupor she ran with the belt in hand, the bloody knife in the other. She just ran to the river. She needed to reach the river. And to keep going she concentrated on Raul's face, his words. Arnold. She needed to distract herself. A canon fire. The girl from One. She had killed first. Lorna was the first killer. And on accident, too.
Lorna somehow reached the river and dove in, wishing she could swim faster. It struck her that she only had the knives, nothing else. Shit.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and screamed, her scream piercing through the area.
Then she saw who it was.
"Raul-" her voice was shocked. He had a thin cut on his arm and a bruise above his left eye, but otherwise was okay. He had a bow and arrows and a backpack.
"Lorna," he whispered as the treaded water, "Hurry to the shore, stay close to me." She nodded and they swam to the other side where they pulled each other up.
"You got knives?"
She nodded, "I guess your skill is arrows." He nodded as well.
"I got a sleeping bag and some bread, too." he put on a smile.
"I killed the girl from one on accident." Lorna's face was pale, as if she was going to be sick.
Or faint.
She chose the first option and promptly ran to a bush, emptying her stomach of whatever little she had eaten that morning.
Raul held her wet hair and looked around them anxiously.
No one.
Silence.
"Lo, we need to get going, you alright now?"
She nodded wiping her mouth.
"Let's go."
The two trekked through the bushes and stopped every now and then, cautious.
But they soon saw the boy from twelve. And he saw them, too. He was thin, with shaggy black hair and bright blue eyes. He couldn't have been more than thirteen and he was mumbling nervously to himself. It was obvious that he wasn't all right in the head, "kill myself, escape, no one home, mommy, fingers-" were fragments that the pair could hear.
Raul's face hardened and he stepped in front of Lorna, but didn't advance at the boy.
The tribute looked surprised and soon grateful as he realised what Raul was doing. Giving him a chance to go.
So he did.
"He's not going to forget that. I know kids like him; he won't kill us unless he gets very, very desperate. And even then we can get him when he hesitates."
The way Raul thought made sense to Lorna, but she was still scared.
"Did you see Arnold get out?" she finally asked as they approached what seemed to be a huge hole in a rock in the ground.
"Yeah, I think he was with the girl from Twelve."
Lorna raised an eyebrow and murmured, "Hypocrite." Though she was relieved that he seemed okay.
Then she looked at the hole. It was big enough to count as a very odd cave. But it seemed a good hiding spot.
"Maybe we should stick out here. Until tomorrow. Or until we're found." She suggested. He agreed. So he crawled through the opening and stopped suddenly. Lorna wanted to ask what was wrong, but he motioned for silence before whispering, "Lorna...Lorna back out. Get back out!" he hissed as they frantically scrambled out. That was when she heard it.
A low growl.
Oh shit.
Raul grabbed her arm and pulled her along, running sideways to keep the now growing threat in vision.
It was a huge, really, really huge, worm. With ten red eyes and a mouth with three rows of sharp fangs.
"The things the gamekeeper comes up with.." she whispered, her voice a few pitches too high.
And it was hungry.
Lorna's scream tore through its ears, obviously to its chagrin and it focused on her as a target, causing the two to run even faster. The bow was useless while running and the knives too small.
They needed to run faster.
Or not. Raul, having only looked out for Lorna, ran into a tree and stopped, dazed.
Giving the worm a chance. Lorna froze in fear.
Then she heard a strangled cry followed by a feral growl. And a crunch.
The boy from Twelve. He had jumped at the worm's mouth.
The sight was grotesque, but Lorna managed to not throw up.
The head was gone. The chest was in half, ribs poking out, the lungs and heart a mess of blood and ripped flesh. The worm was slowly sucking him in, his teeth acting as a mixer.
Disgusted Raul and Lorna ran. Not stopping for what seemed like ages. As if they could run from the pictures in their minds.
But they couldn't.
It was dark by the time they stopped. And they were exhausted. And hungry. And thirsty. They crouched in a large bush, hidden from sight and ate a bit of bread. Still parched.
No matter, Lorna was still sick again. This time Raul was, too.
Raul opened the sleeping bag and pulled Lorna close as he closed it up. Holding onto each other, they tried to rest.
Only just before falling asleep did Lorna remember the cameras that were probably on them.
She looked Raul in the eye and then up at the 'sky' where the deaths were shown. When the boy from Twelve came and not Arnold she sighed and whispered, "Thank you, District Twelve. I'm sorry." Then she kissed Raul softly and the two fell asleep, eager to escape the nightmare that they were in.