Hello! :D So, I've been away and haven't had any access to a computer so I haven't been able to post another chapter. But I'm going away soon again in a couple of weeks so I'll try to post some extra chapters for you before I go. Enjoy this chapter, though…

Chapter 13 – Trapped

I just couldn't get it, I couldn't accept it, I wouldn't accept the fact that Alec was dead. The canon had boomed, Alec had screamed in pain, but I still expected him to walk out from a hiding spot between the trees, hold me and tell me he was okay. He never did, of course not. He was dead!

I kept having nightmares every time I fell asleep. He came back to me all bloody and gory, screaming at me blaming me for everything from his death to the ugly color of the shoes he was forced to wear in the arena.

It's been five days in the arena now, well this was the fifth. I thought I saw his face now every time I turned around, though I didn't do much. I was mostly hiding in a couple of bushes. There were berries there, I tried eating them even though I didn't know if they were poisonous or not. I didn't care, all I wanted was to be with Alec again. The berries didn't give me that, they proved themselves to be edible since I neither died or got sick.

So I only drank when I needed to and ate the berries on the bushes. James was kind enough to send down a loaf of bread to me. I had enough of my brains left to know not to eat the whole loaf a once, but to take small pieces at the time so it would last.

I carved much too. I used my knife to carve big thick sticks into small toothpicks. It was the only thing that could tame my anger and pain.

But now I decided to move. I couldn't just lay here forever. If I wanted to live I'd have to. After refilled my water bottle from a small stream nearby I started to walk slowly. All the laying around in the bushes had done wonders with my head but I still wanted to be careful just in case anything would happen.

After I had walked about a mile or two I heard a crack in the air. A twig or something and I hadn't broken it. Someone was here. Either following me or walking the same path. I quickly hid behind a tree and looked around. I saw someone giant stepping out from some trees, followed by three other giant somebody's. They were gnawing on raw meat all of them and they laughed at something.

The careers!

Holy shit! My breathing instantly became shallower. Please don't let them see me! Please, please, please!

They stopped to gloat about something. I heard things like "The other tributes are so stupid", taunting things like "Oh no! Holy power please let me live! Like that would help", boasting stuff like "I know twenty ways to kill a tribute without leaving this spot!"

They disgusted me! How could they just stand there and boast about their killing skills and more important; enjoy this whole damn thing! That's just gross.

They started to slowly move again and I tried to move around the tree so that they wouldn't see me. Snap! I broke a twig of my own and they all instantly turned around with their weapons drawn. The girl from two saw me!

"Get her!" she screamed. I started to run! I didn't feel dizzy thank god but it still made me tired quickly. The girl from two closed in on me with the others shortly behind.

"Get her, Syndra!" screamed the girl from one. "But don't kill her! It's my turn! You killed the last one! Syndra! It's my turn!"

I didn't pay much attention to them. I was running for my life.

"Where are you going?" asked Syndra from district two when she caught me. I drew my knife with my left hand but before I could do anything with it she caught me in a grip so that my left arm was laying over my chest with my hand leaning against my shoulder and her arm was around my neck.

"Hurry up, Crystal!" said Syndra.

Oh no, I was not going to die like this. If I had to die at least I wouldn't give up without a fight. So, I did something I learned in training. I raised my arms as high as I could and then forced my elbow into Syndra's stomach with as much force as I possibly could. And… Since I held my knife in my hand I sliced her under arm, though even if I didn't mean to it was a good thing I did because she screamed in pain from the cut and elbow-punch in her stomach.

She released me from her grip and fell down on all four to catch up her breath while I ran again. I knew I couldn't kill them even if I wanted to. They where to many of them and I didn't have the guts too. Even if Alec's death toughened me up and I realized that if I wanted to win I couldn't just lay in a ditch I would probably never be able to kill anyone. So I tried to outrun them instead.

It didn't work…

After I had gotten about twenty meters away, the girl from one called Crystal and some boy named Harth came running after me. The boy, Harth gave me a hard push so I fell onto me ground hard.

"Let's get her" he said and pulled me up by my jacket. "Crystal." He turned me around so I was facing the girl from one.

"Wait!" said Crystal and held up her finger in the air. "I have an idea. Let's make camp and take her with us."

"What?" said the boy from one. "I don't want any softies in the group"!"

"Oh, don't worry, Rubin." Crystal caressed his face then gave him a slight slap on the cheek. "She won't be joining us. Trust me, it's a good idea."

The careers did as she said. They made camp and tied me up against a tree right next to their camp. They really had everything they needed to survive. Three tents, matches, water bottles, enough food to last for months, weapons I couldn't even had dreamed of, clothes for all kinds of weather and much more. Even in this shitty situation I was super jealous and angry of the advantage the careers has in every game.

You know, because it almost only when their food or survival source its destroyed that a tribute from another district than one, two or four wins. Which is not often.

I wondered where the tributes from four were. The only tributes in this gang was from one and two. Maybe they're already dead or maybe they formed an alliance of their own. With everything that happened I hadn't kept track of the deaths at all. Except for Alec… I instantly felt tears forming in my eyes at the thought of Alec.

"What's the matter, honey?" asked Crystal sarcastically when she saw my tears. "Worried much?"

I didn't answer. I just tried to stare at her with as much hatred as I possibly could. And I had a lot.

"Gather around everybody!" said Crystal. "I have great news! For us. For you? Well, it all depends on how you take it."

The other careers gathered around me and Crystal continued.

"I saw your Alec died a few days ago, but honey. Soon you will be with him again." Every spelling coming out from her mouth was dripping with sarcasm and taunting against me. "But… Oh right! The news! Well, I finally decided how I'm going to kill you, Ginny. Remember your interview, Ginny? Of course you do. Anyway, you talked about your brother…" My hatred doubled as soon as she mentioned Darren. "… You talked about how proud you were of him, so I couldn't help myself but to find the right game. He was in the 53rd games, right? I saw how the precious boy from four sliced every part of him open and left him to die. Guys, do you know what I'm thinking?"

"I have a hunch" said the boy from one, Rubin. Crystal smiled at him.

"Mmm, so I was thinking… Why not kill you in the same way? If you are so proud of him, dying like him would be something you couldn't be more proud of." Crystal fake smiled at me.

"Well" I said. The first time I ever spoke to the careers and I tried to get as much confidence and hatred in every spelling as I could. Hopefully if I made it out of this, the sponsors would admire my fire (if I had any). "Get on with it then."

"Sweetheart, you should know something about me. I always condemn my victims to a fait worse than death. So, therefore you'll die tomorrow. Spend the night here, tied to this tree knowing when you will die is much worse than killing you instantly. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Sadist."

"And proud of it! Now, enjoy the sunset. It'll be the last one you'll ever see." She laughed as she walked away with the others behind her.

I hope you liked it! ;) Now, I said earlier this story will contain 23 chapters but I've looked at it again and It will be 22 because one of the chapters just seemed pointless and uninteresting so we'll skip that. How do you think it will go for Ginny? Leave a review with your answer along with your thoughts about the story in general. The one with the best theory can choose between two prices; a "custom made" one shot (the topic is your choice but it has to be based on THG, since that is something both of us for sure had seen/read) or just the honor of winning. So have fun! ;)