CHAPTER 14

FIREBALL | DAYS 2 TO 4, ARENA

"Wake up, wake up!" I hear someone shout.

My eyes fly open, immediately alert of the surroundings. I look around to look for trouble, assuming that that's the reason why he woke us up. It's not. I can see that it's still dark, but dawn is almost coming. No one has bothered to wake me up to guard against attackers, and I thought that this could be because they don't really trust me. I could easily kill them in their sleep, but if given the chance, will I take it? At this point, I really doubt it.

Marvel is shaking the others awake, and when we've all come to our senses, he points to the western part of the arena. My face feels kind of swollen this morning, and I can sense that this is caused by yesterday's brawl with the other tribute. I can distinctly see smoke coming up. He looks at us excitedly.

"Smoke?" I ask.

Marvel nods. "There's an idiot who lit up a fire. It's been up for a while now. Probably got too cold. Let's go, it's our chance to bring down one opponent! Who knows, that person may have allies too and we can kill them all."

Everyone got too excited at once and begins packing, preparing our flashlights and torches. I help them roll up the tent and volunteer to carry it in my bag. We have barely fixed our things when Cato starts running excitedly to the direction of the smoke.

"It's still a good distance away, but I think we can reach it before dawn breaks. Come on, hurry up!" he says, tugging us forward.

I follow them as they ran through the trees, thankful that they're not very skilled in the woods. We trip through the trees many times, but they persevered and continue to move forward. I find myself looking up repeatedly at the trees, checking for signs of Katniss. There is none.

It is still dark when we reach the clearing. I can see her now: she's curled up beside the fire, knees tucked to her chest as she tries to keep warm. My eyes quickly look around to check if there's someone else, but she's alone.

The group begins to close in on her, making no attempt to hide our entrance. "There she is!" Marvel exclaims. "How stupid can that girl be." I hear Clove mutter. They break into a run. At the sound of feet rushing, the girl's head snaps up from the fire. Her eyes grow wide as she sees us and she hurriedly stands up on her feet, wanting to escape. But it's too late now, we are too close already.

"Please don't kill me!" she says, throwing her hands up in front of her as if to shield herself from what is sure to come. She doesn't try to run away, probably thinking that we can easily outrun her. "I'll do anything you tell me, just, please!"

I wince as I see Marvel and Cato walk stealthily to the girl, laughing. I can see the muscles on their back tense as they anticipate the girl's death. I deduce from their movements that they intend to prolong this moment, guessing that it's their enjoyment to see the fear in the girl's eyes.

"You saw her fire, so she's all yours now." Cato says.

Marvel smiles and starts walking in circles around her. He positioned himself at her back and slowly caressed her hair before tracing the contours of her face with the knife. The girl shuddered, tears spilling from her eyes.

"Please." The girl repeats. "Whatever you need – "

She isn't able to finish her sentence, as Marvel had already dug the knife deep in her body. Repeatedly. The girl coughs out blood and falls on her knees, her strength vanishing already.

Cato and the others laugh aloud. "What were you saying, huh?"

"Please don't kill me!" Glimmer says, trying to mock the girl's tone earlier.

"I'll do anything you want!" Harper joins in.

"Congratulations, Marvel!" I hear them say. I try to find the strength to speak. Did they really think that was funny? The girl was so defenceless! But I know that they'll be more suspicious of me if I keep quiet, so I try to join their banter.

"That was very sneaky, Marvel. You should have seen her face." I tell him. But even if you did see it, you're too much of a monster to spare her life.

He huffs his chest in response. "Twelve down and eleven to go!" he shouts. The others hoot at this words.

"Let's look around for supplies. She might have something valuable here." Cato says.

We rummage through the contents of her small pack and find a piece of square plastic, some sticks, a piece of cloth, and an empty water bottle.

"This girl is useless!" Clove exclaims.

Glimmer holds up the square plastic. "What the hell is this for? For heaven's sake, no wonder she's dead already! Her brain is so small!"

I try to mute their complaints, looking at the girl from time to time. I can see that she's still faintly breathing, but I did not dare to tell the others for fear that they will only torture her. I pretend to look around for stray materials, but there is none.

"She doesn't have a lot of belongings. Probably tried to run as fast as she can from the Cornucopia and grabbed the first things she saw." I tell them.

"He's right." Marvel agrees.

"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking." Cato says, heading for the trees again.

"Yeah, I hate the smell of rotting body. Come on." Harper adds.

I start breathing normally again, glad to leave the place already. The group walks in high spirits, still entertained by the girl's screams. When we reach another clearing, Harper stops in her tracks.

"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?"

Uh-oh. She finally realized that slip.

"I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately." Glimmer answers.

"Unless she isn't dead." Clove adds, exasperated.

"She's dead. I stuck her myself."

"Then where's the cannon?" Harper demands.

"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done." Cato orders, instantly deciding for us.

"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice." Clove adds.

"I said she's dead!" Marvel bursts out.

"There's no harm done if we could just make sure, okay?" Harper says, her voice rising.

"What the hell Marvel, maybe you didn't stick it to her hard enough." Glimmer.

"Shut up. I know she's dead. And if not, she will be, in a matter of minutes."

It's obvious that they're not going to let this go, and I'm actually afraid for the girl's fate in their hands when they find out that she's still breathing. "We're wasting time!" I tell them loudly, knowing that this is the only argument that can make them see sense and stop bickering like little kids. "I'll go finish her and let's move on!"

I don't really intend to finish her... but if she really is still alive, maybe death in my hands will make me feel less guilty than to let her face death from these heartless people.

"Go on then, lover boy. See for yourself." Cato tells me.

I walked back to the girl's campsite and felt my heart pound against my chest, hoping against hope that I won't have to kill her anymore. I walked fast, wanting to get this over with already. I am aware that as soon as I left the group, they'd be talking about me just as they did last night when they thought I'm asleep. They probably didn't buy it when I said that her skill with knives is what got her eleven, seeing how expertly they themselves use it. They're also probably questioning my alibi about wanting to get revenge. I have to be extra careful.

When I got to the clearing, I can see the girl slumped back in a fetal position, her hands wrapped tightly on her bleeding wounds. I run up to her, and I can see fear in her eyes as she sees me. She is too weak to move now.

I stay on her side holding her head in my lap. "Don't be afraid," I tell her, stroking her hair. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you earlier."

I felt bad about myself that I stood motionless as Marvel killed her. But there is really nothing I can do; I would have died right then and there if I tried to stop them. "Thank you." I hear her say weakly, and I know the end is near for her. A few seconds later, she's gone.

I gently placed her head back on the ground and stood up, taking out my knife and soaking it in her pool of blood to make them think that I killed her. I hurried back to the others and I can hear them talking in hushed voices, but I can't make out their words. They stopped talking when they hear me approaching.

"Was she dead?" Cato asks.

"No. But she is now." The cannon fires in response. "Ready to move on?"

Light is beginning to break in the trees, and I know that it's already dawn. The group runs again at the idea that we may come across another tribute. We spend half of the day trekking in the woods, looking around for tributes. But there is none.

By late afternoon, we head back to the Cornucopia to restock our supplies and see that Blyth is obediently in his position, guarding the supplies.

"Did anybody come?" Cato asks him. The boy shakes his head.

"That means the others know we've dominated this area." Harper says.

"No time to waste." Cato instructs. "Refill your water bottles and food supply. We can stay here for a while, sleep for a while, and head back to the woods later at night."

We stay at the Cornucopia until the anthem plays, and we see that the girl I supposedly came back for to kill was from District 8.

"That girl was a good source of entertainment." Glimmer says.

"Sure was." Marvel replies. "We started the day early, why don't we take the night off, Cato?"

"Because I want to track her already."

Katniss.

"We'll have plenty of time for that." Marvel argues. The girls backed him up. "He's right Cato, I want to get a full night to sleep." Clove tells him.

Cato doesn't seem pleased, but no one supports his desire to track tonight so he reluctantly gave in. "Fine. But tomorrow, make sure you all wake up early to track the others."

All of us settled into our sleeping tents, and I gave in to fatigue and took this opportunity to get a good rest.

By morning, everyone feels recharged. We take time to learn how to get to the supply pile without stepping on the mines, and since it's complicated, it took the entire morning for everyone to get it. After lunch, we prepare our things to head back in the woods.

"Don't you want to try that area?" Harper says, pointing to the far side of the circle that we haven't really bothered to go to.

We walked close to it and saw that instead of a cliff, it's really a steep field that has tall grasses. I walk to the edge, discovering that the grasses are as high as my shoulders, and stared out, not bothering to walk forward. The others also stay in their positions.

"I don't think anyone would want to stay there." Cato says. It's obvious that he doesn't want to go to the field, and I detect a hint of fear on his tone. "Let's just head back to the woods. I bet most of them are there."

No one argued, and we spent the rest of the day trying to look for signs of other tributes. But we didn't come across any. So we spend the night outside, with the Careers promising themselves that they'll get another kill tomorrow. No one died today.

I was woken up by a sound in the distance, and for a while I thought that a day without dead tributes made the Gamemakers decide to blow up the entire arena. I sit up, sleep making my limbs move slower, and looked around. It is still a good distance away, but I can clearly see it as it lodged through the trees and left a trail of fire behind. Cato heard it too, and I can see the urgency that passed through his eyes as his mind registered what it is.

Fireballs.

Adrenaline coursed through me, and I am immediately up on my feet. Cato is already shouting for the others to wake up, and we run away from the fire as fast as we can. It's a good thing that the attacks are still far away so we were able to race through the woods without getting hurt, but smoke is quickly enveloping us. We continue to run through the woods until I begin to wonder if the attacks will ever stop. The Gamemakers are probably driving the tributes to one place. The thought pulls me up short. Katniss. If that's what this is, I can't give up now.

Move, I order myself, conscious of the painful throb of my legs but still unwilling to stop. We get scraped by tree branches, fell a lot, and got burned by some remnants of the huge fireballs, but I propel myself forward, knowing I have to be there to protect her if I'm right about the Gamemakers' intention. Then, almost as soon as it came up, the fireballs stopped attacking, and we are left with nothing but smoke. We stop to rest and catch our breath, but it's too difficult to breathe where we are so we continue to walk at a leisurely pace, occasionally coughing from the smoke.

My eyes continue to dart around for Katniss. If the attacks stopped, then that could only mean that we're near her or the other tributes. The others realize this too.

"Keep an eye out for others... especially her." Cato says.

I immediately felt nervous. No doubt that Katniss is not in her best state right now, and she could be alone. The thought of having them capture her makes my heart ache miserably. I try to think of a plan as we follow the trail that wasn't touched by the attacks.

We barely stop to rest; Cato is so intent on finding Katniss, sure that that's what the fireballs are for. So we continue to move forward until Cato begins to lose his patience and the last remnants of the day fade in the sky.

"Maybe we were wrong about the fireballs, Cato." Clove says.

Cato is unwilling to accept this. "No! I can feel it, we just have to keep on moving. We'll find her."

I can see that he - or anybody else in the Career pack - hasn't recovered yet, and they didn't bother to patch up their injuries, eager at the thought of eliminating her. We hear a splash of water nearby. No doubt that there's someone up ahead.

"There's someone ahead!" Marvel exclaims.

The whole group breaks into a run, but it is obvious that they have been drained of their strength. "Clove?" Cato shouts, he is running ahead of us.

"I'm here!" Clove answers.

"Glimmer? Harper?"

"Here." They call in unison, still coughing from the smoke.

"Try to move fast!" Marvel commands.

We hurl ourselves forward, oftentimes using the trees to support us, and I try to move as fast as I can, wanting to be there first. I will not let them hurt her. I can see the pool already, and I spot a retreating figure to the direction of the woods.

My heart sank. I can distinctly see the girl's braid even with the dim light.

It's Katniss.