Chapter 12: The Faces in the Sky

It's been hours since our ordeal with Demi. After we killed her, we put the body in an open area so the Capitol hovercraft could retrieve it. It's dark now, and the three of us are huddled together for warmth in our lean-to. The National Anthem plays in the arena. The Capitol Seal appears on in the sky. Along with the faces of the fallen tributes from today. In death order, we see: the boy from five, who Violet stabbed. Then comes the boy from twelve. Next, the District 9 pair. Followed by the pair from District 3. The rest are just Cornucopia deaths. Nothing. But wait, where's Ken's face? I killed him! I'm not proud of it, but he's dead! Unless. I shoot up from the ground and scream, "Ken's not dead!"

This shakes Caleb and Clair and they sit up as well.

"What do you mean? You stabbed him right!" Clair says

"I-I thought I did! I stabbed him in the heart!" I yell back

"He could be out there right now!" Clair says frantically

"He wouldn't be far; he's probably in a ditch dying. You stabbed him in the chest right?" Caleb says

I nod

"Good, I expect to be hearing a cannon soon." He says, "Now go back to bed, both of you."

"Demi died for nothing then," I say.

"She was crazy Pax, she would've cracked anyway." Clair says, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"It wasn't a complete loss we now have one less person to worry about." Caleb says, "We should go to

bed, we have a lot to-" he cuts off.

"We have a have a lot to what?" Clair says

Caleb shushes her. He looks around and then slowly gets up, grabbing one of our homemade spears. He inches toward the a bush until a figure leaps out and

attacks him. Clair and I quickly run out of the shelter to assist Caleb. I grab

a spear and Clair grabs an axe. Caleb wrestles around with the figure for a

while. He eventually over comes the figure and throws him against a tree. It's

the boy from District 4! Clair and I rush over and put our weapons in his face as he pants, he's small with brown hair and olive skin.

Caleb wipes some blood off his lip and goes over to the boy. He looks about 16. "Who are you?" Caleb yells

"Neptune," he says catching his breath, "District 4."

"What are you doing out this late, Neptune?" Caleb says calmly

"The-the careers, they tried to kill me! We had an agreement until there were the final ten!" he says

Caleb is silent but still forces the boy to the tree. For a long time, we are in a deadly silence. Caleb must be thinking of what to do with the boy from four. Do we trust him, or kill him? One of the greatest questions of the Games. Kill or Trust.

"What do we do?" Clair asks

"I don't trust him," Caleb says in a mean tone, "we should kill him."

"Please, no! I know exactly where the careers are going!" he pleads

"Why would we want to know that?" I ask

Neptune is getting jumpy now, "Just, just let me go!"

Why is he being like this? Beside the threat of being dead in a matter of minutes, we haven't really done anything to make him like this. Unless.

"It's a trap, we have to leave. Now!" I yell

Everyone looks confused, "Pax, it's like ten at night. We're not leaving." Clair says

"Listen to me," I say frantically, my tone is fearful, "the Careers are coming we need to leave now!"

"What!" screams Neptune, "The careers tried to kill me, why would I still be helping them? Look they gave me a black eye!" he points to his right eye, which I notice is brusied.

"Pax, just relax it's probably" Caleb says nut I cut him off

"How would you know you had a black eye if it's the middle of the night and you ran away from them?" I say coolly, "He's lying guys."

Just then, there is a rustle in the trees behind us. It can't be the wind. It has to be another tribute, or worse, the Careers. Everyone is silent, even Neptune, who has seemed to calm down. Clair slowly turns around and stares in the darkness. She reaches for her axe, slowly but surely.

The air turns cold, I get goose bumps. I feel exposed, I have no armor. I feel unprepared, my knives are in the lean-to and all I have is a sharpened stick. If I am right, and the Careers ARE out there, we're as good as dead. Without a doubt the Careers have enough food, water, medicine, and weapons to last until the end of the Games. Even though we got a lot at the Cornucopia, we have nothing compared to them.

Just then a figure emerges out of the shadows, but quickly goes back, "Guys, there's someone here." I say softly

"I saw it too," Clair replies.

A spear flies out of the bush and lands in Neptune's throat. He chokes and then passes out, blood everywhere. Boom, a cannon goes off. Neptune's dead. We quickly scramble away from the body. We stand close together near the tree.

"What was that!" Clair screams

Ruby, the girl from District 1 emerges from the bush, "That'll teach him from taking our food!"

She acts like we're not here. Her short pixie cut hair reminds me of the Capitol, it's black like her soul. Her body is thin but capable of throwing a heavy spear into someone's throat. She checks her nails, and then returns to survey the scene.

"Pity, he was a damn good fisher! Said he was gonna catch us some fish first thing in the morning. Too bad, I like fish." She sounds sad that she won't get her meal, unaffected by the scene.

"What do you want?" Clair yells, I quickly put my hand on her mouth.

Ruby looks like we've surprised her, "Oh, heavens! You haven't left yet! Children, you should leave, I don't want more blood on my hands, today." Her voice is squeaky, like the Capitol.

"We have weapons," Caleb says strongly.

She struts over, "Oh do you?" she bends over to me, I get scared, "Oh! Look at these! Viktor! Mason! Alexandra! Come quick, help me! They have pointed sticks!" she yells sarcastically.

She moves over to Clair, "Hello dear," she continues, "my, aren't you a pretty one! Have a boyfriend back home?"

"No," she replies, looking down to the ground, "but yours will miss you!" she yells, swinging her axe, cutting a huge gash in Ruby's skull. A cannon goes off. I am shocked at what she did, would I have done it if given the chance? Maybe, maybe not. But I realize that to survive, I must kill or be killed.

We quickly pack the essentials and take off, I bring my knives, but I carry the pointed spear, just in case. As I run, my lungs fill with the cool air. I begin to lose my breath. I want to slow down, but I know I can't, I'll die if I do. So I continue on. We reach the beach of the lake, we must've ran a mile, easy. When we finally reach the lake I can barely breathe. As I reach the sand closest

to the water I lie down in it and put my face in it.

"Pax! Pax!" Clair yells. She flips me onto my back and I sputter water.

"What's the matter with him?" Caleb says rushing over

"I don't know. Pax? Pax can you here my voice?" Clair says frantically. I manage a nod.

"Awesome!" she says, "Get him some water!" she directs Caleb.

"We don't have any." he replies

"What! I could've sworn I had some back at- oh damn it! I forgot the water!" she sounds agitated

"Clair, we're next to a lake. Just give him lake water!" Caleb says

"Caleb!" she says sitting on her heels, "Don't you watch the Hunger Games? The water HAS to be purified! It could have, like, poison in it!"

I begin to lose consciousness, I can't breathe. This is where I die, this is my last stand. I've made it two days into these damn games. Now, I'm going to die. Now I'm going to be a face in the sky. Nonetheless, Rom, Gear, and my mother will too. Unless, Violet wins, then they might have a chance.

"Keep," I say struggling for breath, "Violet alive."

Clair and Caleb stop and stare at each other; they then start to argue what it means.

"He wants everyone to think that they're close!" Clair says

"No, no! He wants the spoils of the victory to go to six!" Caleb argues

I hear a faint, but repetitive beep. It slowly gets closer and louder. Caleb and Clair stop arguing and listen, "Can, it be? This early?" Caleb murmurs.

Caleb stands up and intercepts the descending object. It's a silver ball with a small parachute attached. Caleb quickly opens it and takes a small slip of paper out of it, "Keep going Pax, we need you!-District 6"

I can't see what's in the ball but when he takes whatever's in it, out, I know what it is. It's medicine; well it's a shot of something. Whatever it is, it's for me. Caleb holds the needle up, "What does it do?" he asks

Clair snatches it from him and runs over to me. She sits back on her heals and murmurs something to herself. As she does that, I feel my chest tighten even more, and I can't breathe, I feel as if a ton of sand is sitting on my chest, compressing my ribs, puncturing my stomach. My heart beast fast and hard.

I feel a sharp pain in my thigh. Whatever the needle had in it is now in my body. I feel the weight lift off of my chest and I regain my breathing. I sputter for a moment until I'm able to breathe again.

"Yes! Yes!" Clair says bursting into tears, "Thank you District 6!"

I sit up and breathe heavy and cough until I can breathe again. It looks like my home wants me alive.

"Damn Pax, you had us scared for a moment," Caleb says laughing.

"I-I thought I was dead there." I manage to say.

"Thank the trees your district had enough money to send you medicine!" Clair says.

"Tha-thank the trees?"

"Oh, yeah sorry. In District 7 we are only sure on one thing, the trees."

I nod, "What do you think had me there?"

"Asthma," Caleb says, "My brother has it. Pretty bad, he's allergic to trees, so he's not much of an outdoors person. Are you allergic to anything?"

"I-I don't know, maybe."

"It was the perfume on Ruby," Clair says.

We all look at her.

"Didn't you smell it? Well, Caleb, did you? Now she's dead, and almost killed Pax." Clair says

"What should we do about shelter?" I ask

Shelter, half an hour ago, we had our cozy Camp Soft Pillow, we as much food and supplies we could ever need. Now, we have nothing, except for morsels of food, some weapons, and a hypodermic needle. We have axes, and two kids born and raised in Panem's lumber supplier. But, cutting the tree down would draw too much attention, with the Careers about a mile away; I'm not taking any chances.

We wait for a while, poking at ideas for shelter. Nothing seems too practical. We throw around the idea about sleeping in a tree, but in a time of need, it would be impossible to climb down in time. A Career could also climb up and kill us, or shoot an arrow at us or something.

"We have to sleep in a bush," Clair says, "then, it's close to the ground, provides somewhat protection from the cold, and would camouflage us from predators."

We agree to sleep in a bush. It's terribly cold and uncomfortable. We have to huddle together for warmth. I though Clair said this was supposed to shelter us from the cold? I can't wait until morning, then it will be warm and decent to build our shelter.