A/N: Okay, I published another chapter for you guys... Will you review for me? *puppy dog eyes* No one said anything the last chapter, and that makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong... X.x;; Even if I am, at least tell me! Cybercookies for anyone who reviews, okay?
In The Tip, there are about four jobs. You can catch fish, you can prepare fish, you can package fish, or you can do some odd jobs. My dad was in the first category, while Mom and I were inexplicably in the second. Chania's family was in the third, while Iah was in the fourth. Anyone whose parents do one thing are pretty well destined to do the same. I had a choice: go out fishing with Dad, or make jerky with Mom.
Now I'm starting to regret my decision.
Not only do I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm too slow to flip one of the few fish—they all seem to be snooks—out of the murky water whenever I happen to figure out one is there, and the few times I have managed to get one into the air, I've slapped and cuffed and missed them all, even trying to bite one mid-air when I got desperate enough.
"You really suck at this, don't you?" Tierra comments, nibbling on her cheese.
"What can I say? All the fish I've been in contact with were already dead," I mutter, flicking my hands to get some of the muddy water off. I stare wistfully at Tierra's cheese, but she ignores me. I stifle a sigh, turning back to squint at the brown water.
"So, what information do you have on that Euriloc guy?" she converses, finished with her cheese for now.
"He's only good at long-range attacks," I reply, lowering my voice.
"Let's move," she announces suddenly, yanking my arm and pulling me behind her as she runs into the denser trees.
"Was he—"
"Duh. This way."
I have to follow; she's not going to let go. But I'm getting the sinking feeling this alliance is going to be no different than the first. Is she another hunter? Someone who doesn't care for human life, as long as hers is safe?
"Stay." I obey her, not knowing what else I could do.
If I hear a cannon fire, I'm definitely running.
I cringe at the sound of impact on flesh—Tierra must be beating him; he's scrawnier than me, so he stands less of a chance.
I'm about to run. The cannon's going to fire any second now, and—
"There's that," Tierra finishes, suddenly behind me.
"What exactly… did you do?" I ask, trying to look through the tangles of roots and branches to locate Euriloc.
"Knocked him out. Bony kid like that won't bother us for another couple of hours."
"You didn't kill him?" The words come out before I realize I'm not just thinking it.
Tierra gives me a funny look, and I'm sure it's about time to start running, but she doesn't do anything.
"Kill him?" she scoffs. "If I were out to just kill everyone, you'd be long dead by now, Circe."
I nod rapidly, and we start moving back toward the thinned-out tree groves.
That's right. If she was going to kill the skinny ones, she wouldn't have bothered making alliances with them, right? She doesn't seem like a bad person. She was relying on intimidation alone when she ran into me. Though she was intending to score some weapons with her first alliance, I'm starting to believe she wouldn't have been on the offensive there, either.
Maybe this is going to work out well after all.
A sudden cannon boom rips through the air, and I'm about to scale another tree before I remember it's not an attack.
Someone died. I can't help but look over at Tierra, who notices the cannon but moves on immediately. She shouldn't have accidentally killed Euriloc, right? He was a good bit skinnier than me, but still not as malnourished as Oakley and Maddox were.
The thought of them makes me shudder. I'd really rather not think about those two if I can help it.
To my surprise, there's another boom. Either the Careers have already turned on each other—something I don't think is likely—or they've attacked two people at the same time. That would mean the now-dead people had probably been in an alliance… Maybe, just maybe it was the two from District 11.
But I shouldn't hope for that. If I let myself believe they're gone, it'll just be me letting my guard down, and I can't afford to do that here.
"Circe?" Tierra starts quietly. "Climb up one of the trees and see if you can pick out any of the hovercraft."
I nod, and, after almost twisting my ankle on a flimsy root, scale the nearest tree. I look out amongst the treetops for a minute, but any hovercrafts are either already gone or out of sight.
"Well? See anything?" Tierra calls.
"Nope," I reply, starting back down the tree.
"Crap," she sighs. "Let's just hope the Careers aren't near."
"Agreed."
Tierra takes the lead as we take the last couple of steps to our fishing spot. Or sad-attempts-at-fishing spot, as the case may be. I exhale, positioning myself over the widest gap in roots and staring down at the water.
"Want me to take a shot at it?" Tierra asks after I miss the first snook.
"Only if you'll let me have some," I sigh, not sure if I should accept or deny her offer.
"Fine. I hate fish, anyway," Tierra replies with a shrug, pushing me over so she can assume a stance.
It's a few minutes before either of us spots a fish, but Tierra doesn't swipe at it in time. After I resist the dangerous urge to tease her for it, we start waiting, for a lot more minutes, but no more fish come.
"I don't think the intimidation thing works very well for fishing."
"Shut up." Tierra sighs, backing up to lean against a tree in acquiescence. I sigh as well, looking up at the sky. The trees are thin enough here to actually see upward; it looks like it's late-afternoon-ish, but I'm not completely sure. I just know I'm certainly hungry enough for it to be that late.
I put a hand on my rumbling stomach. How am I going to keep from going hungry here? I can't catch any fish, and I'm not going to get any donations for myself. I bet Twig's out there with the Careers, eating his heart out and wielding whatever expensive weapon that only the united District 4 could afford. Every other Career district would be at a slight disadvantage, having to care for two tributes. But not ours! Oh, no, no one has to worry about that weak little girl. We'll just let her starve. It just means less competition for Twig, right?
"Uh, Circe?"
I snap back to attention, noting with surprise the dripping red around my knuckles. I must have been pounding the trunk behind me unconsciously. I shake some of the blood off disgustedly.
"You know, in a wet, muddy, marshy place like this, that's going to turn fetid pretty quick."
"Thanks for reminding me of my hopelessness," I grumble, smearing the rest of the blood on the side of my shirt.
Scree! Scree! I look up to see a lone seagull gliding above us. If only I had a javelin! That bird would make some good food, I'm sure. Positively better than nothing.
I wouldn't mind killing one, despite the reminding of District 4 from their omnipresence there. I never liked seagulls, really. They're loud, they soil all of the piers, and they've been known to take Dad's fish right off his hook when they're hungry. The sight of one gull here isn't all that nostalgic, since I've only seen massive, swooping clouds of them back home.
Home. I have to wonder what Mom and Dad are thinking, watching me now. Are they proud I deserted Oakley, or just glad that it ended up being a lucky move? Are they frowning or chuckling at my inability to catch fish? What do they think of Tierra? She doesn't come off as friendly, but she's really a good person.
I keep that in my mind as she shoves me over onto the wet bed of roots.
"What the—" I'm interrupted by the sudden, loud chirping of locusts. No, not locusts, I realize as the increasingly louder chirping takes on a low-pitched undertone. Meat-seeker locusts.
They're not that common in the parts of District 4 we still have use for after the rebellion. But there are societies of them out in the Abandoned Fields, so we've been taught about them in school. They're twice as large as normal locusts, airborne, and ready to swarm their entire lives. But the most dangerous part is the carnivorousness. They're successful mutts of the Capitol, so of course they can't just eat plants; no, they go after humans, dead or alive.
And a cloud of them is passing over us now. They must be far up if they haven't smelled us yet, but I'm still scared to move. Tierra's in an army-crawl pose right next to me, her neck craned so she can keep a watch on them.
"Are they high up?" I dare to whisper.
"Yeah," she murmurs. "It looks like about half of them have passed us now."
"All right…" I take the chance of turning over to look at the meat-seeker locusts.
They're flying madly, a shimmering, yellow sheet of oversized bugs looking for their next piece of prey. I pity anyone who's taking shelter in a tree today.
But why has the Capitol already released its first threat? There were two deaths a just few hours ago! Have they already gotten bored with us? Decided they wanted to see someone die, whether or not another tribute killed them?
One way or another, the chirping has faded, and the last of the meat-seeker locusts has passed us by.
"Good," Tierra sighs, getting back on her feet. "Wouldn't want to run into those."
"Have you before?" I ask, noting how she immediately recognized them and took the correct route to avoid them.
"Yeah. They still have a few colonies in District 7," she replies, looking out in the meat-seeker locusts' direction like she thinks they're coming back.
I hope they aren't.
"You throw javelins, right?" she continues.
"Uh, yes," I reply. It seems I wasn't the only one paying attention at the Training Center.
"I have an idea," she states simply, leading the way as the lighting starts to dim. I realize we're headed toward the Cornucopia just moments before we arrive in the field of bamboo-weeds.
She expends an unnecessarily large amount of effort splitting one of them to a reasonable length as I slosh toward her.
"Don't have a knife," she says, "so this won't be easy, but…" She walks over to a tree trunk and starts grating one end of the bamboo-weed on it.
"Ah!" Why hadn't I thought of that?
She continues to grind the tip against the trunk, and I insist on taking it from there, though she's not hard to convince.
I've just about finished a whole side of the bamboo-weed by the time the sun sets. Tierra and I head back into the mangroves—we'd be too easily seen that close to the Cornucopia—as I hear the Panem anthem begin. We make our way to a gap in the trees to watch the faces. Two appear tonight.
And they belong to Oakley and Maddox.
I'm not quite sure if I'm happy or sad at their passing. On one hand, they won't be hunting me, but on the other, I still feel like some sort of real bond was formed between us among all the lies. But that's probably just me imagining things.
We've walked a few more steps before I realize I'm lagging behind.
"Circe! If you're not dying, I suggest you hurry up."
"Sorry! I…" My legs protest at continuing to carry my weight. "I can't… I've never stayed up, and… I…" She's turned to look at me quizzically now. "I… Wake me up for… for watch, okay…?"
I slump to the ground.
