Hunger Games: Not a Pawn in their Games
Chapter 10 of my Hunger Games story, enjoy.
Reviews
Smiles1998: Yeah, the evil cliffhanger strikes again, hope you enjoy this chapter too :)
Skoilr: Yeah, no kidding, well; here's the next chapter.
C.B. Weasley: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, good idea, I'll do that.
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins.
Friends in a Dark Place
Kai remained tense; unsure about if these two tributes had saved him from the Mutt, just to kill him themselves. However they moved closer and he recognized them, relaxing as he remembered he had agreed to form an alliance with them. It was Birch and Cassia Aspen, they both knelt down.
"Just hold on." Cassia told him.
Together with her brother they pulled the jaws of the trap open enough for Kai to pull his foot out. Once he did so they let go and the trap snapped shut, harmlessly. Kai struggled to his feet, the Aspen siblings helped him up and, with Kai limping on his injured leg, they led him to a small temporary camp nearby.
"We set this place up when we heard the Careers were nearby." Birch explained. "It's a defensible location, but I think we'll need to move soon."
Kai nodded. "It certainly is defensible, one way in and out, guard that well, it becomes a choke point."
The siblings nodded and they sat Kai down; they both sat down and Kai checked his leg.
"I should be fine; just need to rest for a few minutes." He explained.
They nodded and then Kai noticed that Birch had gathered all the materials he had dropped when the trap struck.
Birch handed Kai the materials.
"Thanks, I need these." He explained. "Lucky I got extras, now I'm gonna need to work on a few things."
Cassia however looked at him, concerned. "Are you sure, you don't look so good, what happened here."
She pointed towards the skin rash and Kai sighed.
"I was bitten by some insect in here, dengue fever." He told them. "But don't worry, everything will be fine."
As if on cue they spotted a sponsor approaching; Birch retrieved and when he returned he handed it to Kai.
"District 12, this is yours." He stated.
Kai nodded and opened it; he read the note and took out the package in the sponsor, containing pill capsules. Kai had read the note and knew what they were. He pulled one out, put it in his mouth and swallowed it with his water. He then pulled two more out and handed them to the Aspen siblings.
"Take them, treatment for Jungle Illnesses and also immunizes you against them." He smiled. "I should be in the clear soon."
They nodded and took the capsules; Kai stashed the box in his backpack and then got to work, using the materials he had gathered. Birch and Cassia watched in amazement as Kai expertly crafted, from scratch, three Ghillie suits, one for each of them.
"Here, we wear these and use them right, we'll be almost perfectly camouflaged against any surroundings."
Impressed by this they pulled the Ghillie suits on and Kai then got to work using the hollowed out shells and various other materials he gathered and powdered as well as the caltrop materials to craft nine makeshift bombs.
By the time he used all his materials however only five of the bombs were complete. Before Kai could explain about it to the siblings the cannon boomed again.
"We need to get outta here. Defensible or not, we're sitting ducks out here. The Careers are still here and at least one has ranged weapons." He warned.
They agreed and gathered everything they needed; Kai attached the bombs to the inside of his Ghillie suit, within easy reach. He carefully put weight on his right leg and found it had recovered; so they left and continued to move through the jungle. Kai heard it first and signalled for them to take cover, they did, their Ghillie suits blending in perfectly with their surroundings. They watched as the Careers walked past, joking and laughing.
"Did you hear the way she screamed when she fell down?" Laughed Alazne as the others nodded and Janela did a comical impression of the scream.
Asher smiled and clapped Caspar on the shoulder. "You did good kid, clean kill; couldn't ask for better on your first kill."
Caspar just nodded; looking dazed and Kai realized they had done what they said they would, Caspar had been properly inducted as he claimed his first victim. When they finally passed Kai signalled again to the Aspen siblings and they progressed. They worked, hunting and gathering edible plants. Kai also used the blood of one of his kills to finish one of his bombs, leaving just three incomplete.
They finally stopped and made camp, their Ghillie suits would provide them with cover when they slept at night. As they sat and ate some food and drank some water; the Ghillie suits were, after all, hot. They heard the anthem and watched as the two tributes that died were shown. First the one killed by the Mutts, the boy from District 8, putting them out of the Games; and the girl from District 3, the one Caspar had killed. Finally Kai sighed.
"Well, time to finish these last three bombs." He remarked. "Gonna have to make a sacrifice however."
Birch and Cassia looked at him. "What do you mean?" Cassia asked.
Kai then removed eighteen of his twenty throwing knives and, using a nearby rock, smashed them into small yet sharp pieces of shrapnel, all of which went into the three remaining bombs, the fuses were put in place and now he had nine complete bombs, ready to go.
"Well, that's me fully armed now I think." He remarked.
The siblings smiled at that and Birch replied. "Now Cassia and I feel we're not carrying enough weapons."
Kai simply laughed along with them and, knowing they could do nothing else and, relying on their Ghillie suits they lay down, blending in and falling asleep. The heat from the suits which caused them problems during the day actually provided relief for the cold nights.
They woke up on the fourth day; no further deaths had come up so far. They decided to move further through the jungle; Kai felt a lot better, the medicine had worked wonders, his dengue fever had cleared up. They moved quietly; being cautious, keeping an eye out for the Careers. As they walked they also gathered more food and plants. They stopped to take a short break and Birch approached them with some plants in his arms.
"Here, these should be good." He remarked.
Kai looked at them and froze as Birch set them down and picked one in particular up. He reacted quickly and took it from Birch's grasp.
"Don't; how many of these did you take?" He gasped.
Birch and Cassia were shocked by this sudden reaction; finally Birch admitted that it was the only one.
Kai sighed and then explained. "That's Datura; very small, very pretty…and very poisonous."
The siblings froze in shock at how close they had come to danger. Kai however was examining the Datura plant.
Finally he sighed. "Damn, this isn't fresh…I was hoping, if it was I could use it in one of my bombs…but there isn't enough poison left in this plant to kill more than two people at a time. No good for using it against the Careers."
Dejected Kai threw the Datura plant aside and finally they continued onwards. Kai was wary, things were far too quiet.
Yet nothing happened, no deaths, day four came to an end with no deaths. This left Kai anxious that the Gamemakers would utilize more traps to keep things exciting. So it was he settled down to a fitful sleep, the Aspen siblings slept nearby, all keeping camouflaged with their Ghillie suits. Although Kai couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed, that he was being watched. It wasn't until the following morning however that he was awoken by a scream and the boom of the cannon.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.
At the end of each chapter set during the Games where tributes die, I will show a list of all Tributes (in District order) and next to the tributes that have been killed I will use the following sign: *
Next to that sign will be a number, that number indicates the order in which they died, there will also be a number in brackets; this is the age of that tribute.
Asher Longhand (18)
Citlali Tate (17)
Chase Winter (17)
Alazne Barca (14)
District 3 Male (15)
District 3 Female (17) * 10
Caspar Till (14)
Janela Maxwell (15)
District 5 Male (16) * 3
District 5 Female (14) * 2
District 6 Male (17) * 6
District 6 Female (17) * 7
Birch Aspen (17)
Cassia Aspen (17)
District 8 Male (16) * 9
District 8 Female (17) * 5
District 9 Male (14) * 4
District 9 Female (18) * 8
Joyic (14)
District 10 Female (15) * 1
Dashiell Williams (18)
Galatea Elore (14)
Kai Raithebone (16)
Liora Jade (13)
That's the list so far; will be updated as more tributes meet their end.