Chapter 11: Into the Cornucopia

I walked away from Fernando without looking back, my mockingjay pinned safely to my shirt and my bracelet wrapped tightly around my wrist. I took my place on the platform's base as my mind began to wrap around my own personal mission. By the end of this year's games, District 12 will have a new victor living in the village. I just wasn't sure which one of us would be coming home.

The platform was just big enough for me to stand as it rose to the arena floor. As soon as every tribute was standing on their platform, Caesar's voice boomed out around us. "Welcome to the 80th annual Hunger Games!" and the clock began to count down.

The forest was similar to the one that bordered District 12, holding the silver Cornucopia perfectly in front of the 28 tributes. Two bows sitting in the center of the silver Cornucopia caught my eye quickly, along with the backpacks and sleeping bag surrounding them. I looked around at the fellow tributes and watched as Dakota races off of the platform for a head start. I shook my head in despise as the boom of the bombs sounded instantly, followed by a cannon shot.

The clock timed down as I looked around once more, Dakota's body now in pieces and covering the Jewel and Shade from head to toe in blood and guts. Across the way, Muffy began to scream her head off before collapsing on the platform in fear. The forest wasn't totally from District 12; there were bits and parts from the other districts as well. I could barely hear a stream close by, and above me I could see the beady eyes of a jabberjay watching us. Looking back to the cornucopia, the time slowly turned into seconds, turning quickly into a mad dash for the center.

I jumped off the platform seconds after Blaze moved, making my way quickly for the bow, but reaching the center became a massacre of tributes. I turned quickly to avoid taking a spear to my knee and slammed into the girl from six. We fought for a few minutes before a dagger pierced through her back, slicing into her spine with a sharp cry. Throwing her dead body off of me, I moved quickly again for the bows just in time to see Dodge grab the last remaining one and lunging for a random backpack, followed quickly by Portia. I dove toward one of my own as I watched her pull another dagger out of its sheath.

I moved quickly, darting for the tree line as I felt the dagger fly past my ear and instantly felt glad she wasn't a perfect shot. I was almost at the tree line when Scythe cut me off, swinging a sword playfully around his head. I quickly changed direction, forcing him to move with me if he wanted to kill me. He stayed with me, moving as I did to block my way to the forest. Just as the sword was starting to swing above his head, it slipped out of his grasp. The weight of the blade forced it to turn quickly without control and came crashing down, point first into the back of his neck. The whole moment seemed to pass quickly as the metal cut straight through his brain stem. I quickly looked away from the slippery sound of the sword's weight slicing straight though him like butter.

I looked back at the battles behind me and flinched before rushing to grab his sword and run to the safety of the tree line. As the shade of the pine trees covered me, I slid quietly into a bush for cover to watch the blood bath. Lying as close to the cold ground as I could possibly get, I squeezed myself underneath a holly bush and looked out at the chaos in safety. I spotted Cage as he moved to chip away at the District 9 male's shoulder, striking the heart with each slash and spraying blood around. Miller fell to the ground, leaving Cage to take his backpack and dash into the trees across from me.

The sound of someone crying alerted me to another tribute nearby, and I turned quietly to see Muffy staggering up to a small pool of clear water nearby. The puddle was steaming and giving off a grayish smoke, turning any trained person away from it immediately, but Muffy bent down to it gingerly. I tried to whisper to her to move away from it, but I couldn't be heard. She slowly began to take little sips of the liquid and within seconds was screaming again. Her face started to melt away as she scratched at it with her polished nails, fighting against the chemical reaction in her throat. I jumped up and started to run blindly away from her screams, looking for any form of safety.

The lush forest was open and full of bushes and undergrowth I could hide behind. I found temporary shelter under a large bramble bush and began to go through the backpack. I closed my eyes and listened to the forest around me as I carefully un-zipped the backpack. The zipper moved quietly, making little sound against the blood bath still going on behind me. Opening my eyes, I struggled to contain my excitement seeing the shine of the Capitol's silver shining at me off a sheath of arrows. I kept my mouth shut as I zipped the bag back up, curling around it. The sun was already starting to set as the fighting has begun and now it was well beneath the horizon. Although it was possible the gamemakers were controlling the sun's location in the arena; with the night beginning to fall, I decided it would be the best time to get some rest before trekking towards the stream tomorrow for water.

Just as I had started to close my eyes, the Capitol anthem rang out overhead. Peering through the branches I could just barely see the Capitol's symbol in the night sky. The symbol stayed for a moment before changing to the faces of the dead. I found it odd that the first tributes shown weren't the Capitol tributes. Instead, the slideshow started with the faces of Mac and Pixel from District 3. I started to count the faces; Minnow from District 4, Willow from District 6, Miller and Sweetpea from District 9, Rory and Vixen from District 10, Scythe from District 11, and Dakota and Muffy from the Capitol.

I didn't sleep much during the night, waking up to every crackle of the bushes' branches. I began to slowly see the light of day peek through the trees as I worked to warm up my fingers. I should have tried for a sleeping bag or blanket of some kind to keep warm during the night. Fires would be dangerous and my jacket didn't provide as much warmth as I had hoped it would. Eleven tributes in one day, and the careers would be on the hunt soon. Flashes of the tributes being sliced through by a career turned my dreams into nightmares.

As I rose quietly form the cold ground, I began to recall my parent's talking with me back when I was 9 about their nightmares; but now it fully sank it and I fully understood what they meant. It wasn't just some game to be playing, we didn't get up and start over like in practice with Gale. There wasn't any re-tries if you missed a block or forgot your studies. Quickly gathering my things, I headed out in search of food and water. The backpack slung over my shoulder concealing the arrows perfectly amongst some crackers, a canteen half full of water, rope, and a bundle of some small gold wire.

I worked quietly as I struggled to build a few traps around me. They were flimsy and I doubted I would even catch anything big enough to fill my stomach. Coppice was right when she told me to spend more time in the traps section of the training center. I glaced up from the trap I was working on to check my surroundings, just to find the same Jabberjay staring at me. I shook my head and moved onto another flimsy trap, feeling the Jabberjay's mechanical eyes following me. It looked to be a normal Jabberjay, the grey feathers blending into the bright red tail, but something seemed off about it.

The bird stayed quiet as I pondered over killing it, following me around like a lost puppy. I knew my sword would be too noticeable to kill it, and my arrows wouldn't do enough damage without the bow. The silent companionship would work between us, I decided as I made my wat to a stream nearby. Glancing around every few minutes as I filled my canteen and washed my face, my companion watching me from the trees.

I had just begun to gather my things when the Jabberjay began to scream, replicating Muffy's voice almost perfectly. I glanced up at it just in time to see the career pack pointing and heading straight for me. The careers had an advantage by the river, but I had the forest.

"Come on, let's get her!" Cinder called out as they ran after me into the forest, throwing rocks at me as they ran.

I couldn't push myself to run any faster than I already was and instantly became thankful for all of the strengthening lessons and races with Thrash. Another rock flew past me and I glanced back to see Dodge and Cinder keeping chase right behind me. I qu9ickly changed direction and headed for the mountain siding a little further ahead of me. The mountain offered little protection, but every once and a while there was a cave or siding to hide in.

"Jay, precious little Jay!" Glory cackled as he threw a dagger past me, impaling a tree branch. "The victors' daughter won't last two days!"

I passed the tree, yanking the dagger free from the branch as the rock siding grew closer. I could barely make out a small cave entrance at the edge. My mind bean to race and the memory of Lear being slaughtered by wolves made me slow down a little and listen to the cave's entrance. I could barely hear the sound of a low growl as I looked back at the careers caching up to me. Pulling out my sword and taking a long deep breath, I stepped closer to the cave. The cave's opening was just high enough to allow shallow light into the darkness. With every step, the growling began to grow louder and fiercer, warning me not to move any further and begging me to leave.

Jewel made it to me first, a spear in her hand and ready to attack. "Stupid Jay, now you have nowhere to go." She called to me as I stepped into the mouth of the cave, praying I would move faster than her.

The Jabberjay cawed as Jewel followed me into the cave with a smile and passed into the darkness. I carefully made my way, staying close to the sides as the growls began to grow more intense around us. I took one more step when the growls stopped and two wolves jumped out at us. The first one landed onto Jewel's un-expecting body and she quickly stated screaming. The second jumped for me and I blocked it with the hilt of my sword for a moment, cutting my hands from the impact. Within seconds, Jewel had stopped screaming and a gurgling sound come from her throat. I tried to peer through the blackness for the wolves when the careers started yelling and ran. Jewel's wolf ran off, chasing after them into the forest.

The second wolf leaped at me again, knocking me to the ground. I rolled and pushed the wolf off of me as it gnawed on my forearm. I worked my way back to the mouth of the cave so I could see, the wolf quickly moving to attack again. It lunged at me and I felt a bit of training kick in as I ignored the sheering pain in my arm and angled the sword to slice through the wolf's neck. I missed by inches and the sword ran through the wolf's fur, slicing into the shoulder down to its core, killing it slowly. I didn't have enough momentum or power to slice straight through, and the wolf pulled me down with him as it crashed to the floor. I pulled the sword back from its body and pierced through its head to make sure it was dead before looking over at Jewel's mangled and motionless body. The morbid sound still coming from her throat as she coughed up blood, pointlessly breathing in and out.

Her face was scratched and pieces of her ears were missing, her limbs and stomach were bleeding horribly, but she was still slightly alive. Her eyes moved and locked on me as I moved closer.

"I'm sorry," I whispered before chopping her head off with the sword. The canon sounded quickly as I worked to move her body outside the cave, resting her head inside the ripped open space of her chest, so the hovercrafts could take her home.

The cave would provide shelter for the night now that the wolves were gone, and the second wolf's body could supply a good amount of meat for a few days. I remembered seeing my parents skinning animals and I had practiced it with Gale, but never a wolf. It wasn't much bigger than the average dog, but I pulled it into the cave and started on a very bad job of skinning it.

"Thank you, wolf, for your meat." I told it before cutting what would be edible from the carcass. Looking around the cave, I realized there was nothing to start a fire with and I began wishing for a match or two. I looked down at my arm to inspect the damage only to find six sharp cuts across my skin and a good sized bite on my forearm by the elbow joint. I needed to cover it and hope the games ended soon or I could risk infection, it was also going to make archery and other movements difficult with that arm.

Tearing off the bottom of my shirt, I wrapped the wounds gingerly until I could get to the stream and was it out correctly. Thankfully, it was my right arm and it wouldn't hinder the archery as much as if it was my bow arm. I should have practiced with both, but didn't think it would be necessary. Now I just needed to find my bow.

The birds in the nearby trees grew quiet as the Hovercraft appeared and plucked Jewel's body into the air. The Jabberjay stayed quiet from its branch just outside the cave entrance until the craft disappeared. Unwrapping the wound, I grabbed my canteen and started to pour some water over it, attempting to clean it the best I could before wrapping a new bandage over it tightly. It wasn't long after when the Jabberjay cawed again. My eyes quickly searched the mouth of the cave and the tree line and I relaxed as I saw the little silver parachute land just outside the cave entrance.

I pulled myself together and went to it, the latch was stuck but popped open revealing a set of matches and a small first aid kit. I looked to the sky and mouthed my thanks before going to gather more firewood, Glory's dagger firmly pressed against the inside of my boot.

The woods around me were vibrant with life as I began to pull limbs back to the cave. The careers seem to have left this side of the woods, running away from the wolves, but I still couldn't relax and turned at every sound. I worked hard to break the limbs into a small campfire and began roasting the wolf meat for dinner. Images of the dead tributes would be appearing soon and I wasn't sure I wanted to know who all died today. I hoped Cage and Blaze were still okay, and that would be the only thing I was going to watch it for.

When the Capitol's anthem played, I was snuffing the fire out with my boot. Jewel's face showed first, followed quickly by the boy from six and the girl from seven. The anthem ended showing the photo of the boy from eight and the world was dark again. I made my way through the darkness to the back of the cave before trusting myself to sleep. The cave floor was cold and moist through my jacket. I curled up on the floor to generate more body heat, but still woke up every few hours from the cold.