Does Death Wait for me?
Another countdown begins. Starting from sixty, and going down to one. I look around me. Katniss is at my left and another girl at my right. I look across the field, where Fisher would be. Fisher looks at me, he smiles. I want to smile back, but the way he smiled was funny, almost like it was meant for someone else. Had he started laughing at death, too? Even if this was not the case, I start smiling.
The countdown hits forty and I have decided to run from the mayhem that will soon blanket this circle in blood. Fisher seems determined, though. Determined to get a weapon of some sort, but Katniss, she seems confused. I look to Peeta, who is shaking his head, and back to Katniss, who is just staring.
Ten seconds left, and she's still staring. I try to get her attention, to tell her to get focused, but it's too late. The games have started and I'm running away. I find a tree, close to the middle, and scale it so I can observe the oncoming chaos. I see, from my tree, that Fisher had made it to the middle, but the odds weren't in his favor. His body lay limp on the ground. I let out a very sad whine, almost as if I could mourn right now. I bet the only thing that will be remembered about him, if anything at all, is that silly little 8 he had on television. A score he got. A chance, and there it lays, next to the golden mouth of the Cornucopia.
A loud grunt comes from beneath me, it's Katniss, and she's tripped over a protruding root. She has a knife sticking from a pack she picked up along the way. I scour the mayhem for Peeta. When I spot him Cato has a sword to his neck. I had hopes that Peeta would at least survive the bloodbath. But suddenly, Cato lets down his sword, handing Peeta a spear. Peeta and him seem to speak over some type of agreement, a weak alliance balanced on something equally weak.
Soon, the storm calms. The waves of blood and child-slaughter die down. The group of career tributes start sacking the center. The kid from District 3 (who by some luck seemed to have favor with the careers) begins digging around a tribute stand. I can't imagine what he's looking for. He slowly comes up out of the hole with a box. Of the highly explosive kind. He carefully travels to Glimmer, who points to a table. As he walks away, she looks around, and it seems that she looks straight at me. I jump from tree to tree, darting out of view. Oak branches scrape my palms. Nothing like the Yellowwoods or the Cinnamon trees I would swing from at home. I guess this was my own strength. I guess this is what I was supposed to do.
I mean, swinging from trees isn't all that great, but in this scenario, it seems to be saving my life. I continue swinging and catapulting myself across the branches until something pokes at my side. I let out a quiet scream. Stopping at an oak branch, I dig through my jacket pocket. My fingers embrace a cold metal. It's the pin. The one Caesar secretly gave me. Smiling his broad smile with his perfectly white teeth.
Knowing that I am out of sight, I start studying the token. I have no idea what it means. If it symbolizes anything, or why the heck Caesar would give this to me if it did.
In the distance, I hear howling. The first thought that comes to mind is coyotes. The small rodents that would trample our crops in the winter and spring, but quickly, the thought changes as I know that the Careers are hunting and not the coyotes. I shove the token in my pocket and freeze in my nest as the pack of thieving murderers come closer. I know that as soon as their gone, they won't be looking back. Their brutish brains would never check the same place twice.
They stop at my tree. I wait for my cannon to go off because my heart's just stopped. I don't dare look, it would risk them seeing my face. All I can here is the clatter of arrows in a quiver and the chuckling of massive boys. The laughter suddenly stops.
"You see that?" a deeper-toned voice ask
"looks like some idiot can't handle the cold" says a female voice
I look to my left and the glare of a fire ignites the forest.
"yeah, well, looks like we have a fire to put out."
They run off in the direction of the fire. Looking to my left, I catch a glimpse of all of the murderers. A small breath draws into my lungs as remember that Peeta belongs in that group
It makes no sense. I never imagined him as a career tribute, but then again, I never put much thought into him except he has that crush on Katniss.
Oh God! I think. Their using him to eliminate Katniss. The tragedy hits me like a train.
I dwell on this thought for so long, that I make a commitment to help Katniss. A game should never be that unfair. I start to get up, to search the woods for Katniss, but my muscles ache and my hands hurt. Not to forget it's way past my bed time. Katniss can wait until tomorrow, right? My lazy brain thinks.
As my mind drifts off into oblivion, I sing myself to sleep.