I wake up to the sound of a cannon firing. Another tribute is dead. I have a feeling that it isn't one of the careers. Since all of us are here, that means that it is probably one of the other tributes. Another cannon fires. Two tributes are dead. A hovercraft appears out of nowhere. A claw drops down and picks up one body. Then, the claw goes down again and picks up another body. My eyes widen. If the tributes were close enough for us to see the hovercraft, then their killers must be in the vicinity.
"Chels, wake up." I shake her. When she wakes up, I wake Carmen up whom, went to sleep after Celine woke up.
"Atticus, what's going on?" Celine asks.
"We need to leave. Another tribute or an animal is nearby."
"How could you tell?" Carter asks.
"The deaths that just happened were close enough for us to see the hovercraft. That means that whoever killed them is close by as well." Carmen's eyes widen. As the other's start to grasp what I'm saying, me and Carmen start to pack up. We're ready to leave in about 5 minutes. We walk a quarter mile before an arrow is shot through Carter's head. His cannon goes off and I immediately know that the careers have found us.
I take a knife and throw it at the girl from 1. She dodges it, but it plunges into the boy from 2's heart. His cannon goes off, signaling his death. Chelsea takes the spear that she got at the cornucopia and chucks it at the girl from 4. It pierces her stomach. Another cannon goes off.
"Retreat!" the boy from 1 calls.
All of the careers run. We don't try to follow them. Even though we could easily defeat them. We're all too upset about Carter's death. We take his pack. We also take the packs of the dead tributes. The boy from 2 had a flashlight and a set of matches. The girl from 4 had a knife, and a gallon of water. I count the number of tributes still alive. There are 10 of us left. I stand up.
"Listen; there are ten of us left. I think it's time we went our separate ways," I say. Chelsea looks upset, but nods. The others do, too. We split the supplies up evenly between us. Celine goes with Carmen. They say that they'll stay together until there are a few tributes left. Then, they'll separate. They leave. I sit there with Chelsea. We don't talk. We just sit there. I don't know why, but this is somehow calming. Then, we heard two earsplitting screams. They came from Celine and Carmen. Even though our alliance was over, we still got up and ran to them. We get there in time to see the careers killing Carmen. Then, they stab Celine in the stomach. The boy from 4 doesn't even pull the knife out before my own hunting knife is in his heart. Chelsea gets the girl from 2 in the head. Three more cannons go off. We would have killed the tributes from one, but they ran away and we were more concerned with Celine.
We kneel down next to her and say "We got them. It'll be all right.
Celine can barely speak. However, she does get out "You guys have to win."
"One of us will," Chelsea promises. Celine shakes her head "Both of you. You can do it."
I feel tears swelling up in my eyes. "We will."
"Goodbye," she says weakly. Her eyes flutter closed and her cannon goes off. "Bye," I whisper.
"We'll miss you," Chelsea manages to get out.
We get up and walk away. I know that if we stay, we may never be able to leave.
We head back to our campsite. We decide to stay there because it's already built.
The anthem sounds. The seal of Panem appears and shows both from 2; both from 4; the boy from 5; Carter and Celine; Carmen; the girl from 10. The seal reappears and then everything goes dark.
"How could so many people have died in one day, Atticus?"
"How could so many people have died because of us? There was District Two and District Four. We killed four people. And, we'll have to kill four more if we want to go home." She lets out a groan. I don't blame her. She killed 2 people and I killed 2 people. How can we get over that?
I tell her to sleep. I take the first watch. I sit there and just stare at the arena. I never really noticed it before. The tall trees with infinite shades of green. The bright colors. There are pinks, reds, oranges, blues, and a million other colors that I can't name. The moon looks different. It's almost gold. There must be a force field that changes the color. I can hear the different sounds coming from the forest. It's like a beautiful symphony. I don't think that there's anything in the world that sounds more beautiful than this. The birds are chirping even though it's night. The animals are all howling and clicking and God only knows what other sounds they're making. Some people would think that it's hard to fall asleep to this, but I know that I could listen to this all night and not care. The peace of the forest is enough for me.
I sit there, gazing up at the moon. I never realized how beautiful the gamemakers make the arenas. I guess that you need to experience it for yourself to be truly grateful.
Sitting here, I feel as if I'm in a time out from the Games. I barely even notice when a silver parachute comes flying down and landing next to me. I turn from this paradise to look at the gift. I know that Victoria must have wanted me to have this. I don't know why. Chelsea's the one that's good with the bow and arrow, not me. But she sent it to me. If they wanted Chelsea to have it, they would have sent it while she was awake. Then it hits me, she wants me to have a usable weapon for long distances. She knows that I can barely kill someone with a knife. So, she sands me another weapon. I decide to get up and practice. I aim for trees. I position the arrow and I let it fly. It hits the tree! Maybe I am good with a bow and arrow. I aim for a few other trees. I hit each one that I aim for. I had no idea that I was good with a bow and arrow. I collect the arrows that I shot and go to sit with Chelsea.
I wake up and see that Chelsea is already up and… using the bow and arrows!
"Where'd you get this?"
"Victoria sent it to me last night."
"You mind if I use it?"
Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I'm actually pretty good with it."
Boom!
"Another tribute dead. I bet it's the girl from ten."
"It could be the boy from nine. He's still alive."
We decide to pack up and go to the cornucopia. We figure that it will give us a strategic advantage. Also, the careers might be there. If they are, we can finish them off.
We're walking through the forest when I heard a snapping of twigs to my left. It's too loud to be an animal. I believe that it's footsteps. It sounds like only one person. This is the only other tribute besides us and the careers.
I position an arrow and aim. Suddenly, a girl about 14 jumps out at us. I let the arrow fly and it goes straight through her throat. A cannon fires. We keep going in the direction of the cornucopia. When we reach the bridge that connects the island to the cornucopia, we notice that District 1 is still there.
I aim an arrow and let it fly. However, then I was aiming for moves out of the way and my arrow flies into the water. I see Chelsea charge over the bridge, knives in hand. She begins to throw them. The tributes from 1 are incredibly fast though. They dodge each of her knives. Then, the girl from 1 goes charging at Chelsea with a knife. Chelsea is out of weapons. I throw my hunting knife. I know that it won't kill her but I hope it will distract her. As I knew it would, the girl notices the knife and dodges it. At this point, I start running over the bridge as quickly as I can. I notice the boy from 1 trying to sneak up on Chelsea. He has a spear in hand. I aim and shoot the arrow. He isn't fast enough to dodge it completely, but he does manage to stop it from being lethal. It gets him in the shoulder. I take out my other hunting knife, and begin to fight the boy from 1. He drops his spear and grabs a sword. First, he lunges for my shoulder, but I block him. I twist his blade down so that it touches the ground. Then, I lift my blade up and go in for the kill. He manages to block me, but he drops his sword in the process. I once again try to stab him in the heart. This time, however, he grabs the blade in his hands. I pull the knife away and try again. I realize that it isn't working so I jump back, grab a smaller knife, and try to throw it at him. It gets him in the knee. The blood pouring out of his wound is disgusting. I don't let that slow me down however. I try to slice his neck but he blocks it with his arm. This causes his hand to get chopped off. Now the blood flow is sickening. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop myself from vomiting. The only good thing to come from this is that he can't stand anymore. One final time, I go in for the kill. This time, I cut him at the neck and his head goes flying off. The cannon signaling his death fires.
I turn to see that Chelsea and the girl from 1 are still fighting. Chelsea managed to get her hands on a mace. She swings it around her head and just misses the other girl. I run to go help her but she yell "Get back, she's mine!" She drops the mace and quickly replaces it with a broadsword. She swings the sword around her and slashes the sound of metal on metal hurts my ears. She manages to twist the sword out of the other girl's hand. Then, she throws the sword at the girl and it buries itself in the girl's chest. The cannon that signifies the girl from 1's death fires. I run over to Chelsea. I hug her as the trumpets that announce our victory sound. Then, I hear Claudius Templesmith announce "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the victors of the 91st Hunger Games, Atticus Avalor and Chelsea Mellark!"
Two ladders drop down and we each grab one. I'm still holding her hand as we get into the hovercraft. The doctors tell us that we're both in perfect health and that they'll take us to the Training Center. Throughout the entire time, I never let go of Chelsea's hand.