Authors Notes: So more and more of you are subscribing to this story every day, which pleases me. I only wish I had more time to write! Dont worry, soon I will finish exams and I'll be all yours! Then I can start on my other stories. 3
Lya And The Labyrinth
Chapter 14
Baked Apples
Peeta's POV
My head slips through the hand and it bangs hard on the table I was leaning on.
Jerking awake, I groan at the newfound throbbing above my eyebrow and rub it, annoyed. I've been staring at these monitors for hours on end, watching, waiting for a glimpse of Lya. I hadn't seen anything since those roots attacked them back in District 7 territory, and currently the cameras were following some of the Careers.
They were stalking through the District 5 area. It was a barren wasteland mostly, with shrubs, dead trees and large rocks for cover.
Crouched behind one of overturned logs was Adria and Silas from District 1, Hunter, the boy from 2 and Hilary and Lemuel, both from District 3. Dohra, the girl from 2 was still at the Cornucopia. They'd set up traps in the lake, so if someone didn't cross to the Cornucopia at the right place, they'd be caught and face one of a few ugly deaths.
"Here" a gruff voice said behind me and Haymitch put a cup of strong coffee in front of me.
I hadn't eaten in a while and the smell of the brew made me nauseous.
'Drink, if you're not gonna eat, you might as well have something so you can watch this crap" Haymitch whispered.
I put the coffee cup to my lips, the bitter taste moving with a splash into my empty stomach.
"You seen her yet?"
I shook my head at Haymitch's question.
"No, it just keeps following them" I said resentfully and pointed up to the screen.
Haymitch's eyes travelled up to the large monitor in front of me. Around us, other mentors were talking on the phones, organizing sponsors, sipping strong coffees and chatting loudly. Unlike some of these people, I didn't live for the thrill of the games.
"Peeta, look" Haymitch gasped and he placed a hand on my shoulder.
Someone behind me was turning up the volume as we watched the horror unfold.
Adria was screaming, her skin turning red. All the tributes had started running as fast as they could, determined to get out of the area.
Looking closer, I saw the fumes being emitted from the ground.
"Radiation" Someone exclaimed behind me.
District 5 was the power District; radiation was being released into the arena. I scanned all of the monitors in front of me, searching to see if Lya was on one of them, but it was just the terrain the Careers were in that was being affected.
I watched them run, their breath in shaky gasps. Red sores appeared on their skin, swelling in giant pustules. Hilary cried aloud as one of her eyes welled shut from the sores and she tripped. Silas turned back to look at her, but they all kept running. She was crying now, screaming at them, arms outstretched for them. The others reached the edge of the terrain and burst through to the cold sand surrounding the lake. Finding the right spot, they dove into the cool water, the pain on their sores relieved.
The camera switched back to the girl they left behind. She was whimpering, her skin melted like wax from a candle. I was aware of someone behind me throwing up repeatedly at the sight, and Im sure my face was frozen in permanent horror as I watched blood seep from her wounds.
Finally she was quiet and still, her frame small without the layers of skin and clothing attached. Her leg was seared to the bone, her tibia exposed in the poisonous air.
The canon sounded, the signal of her last breath.
Haymitch released his grip on my shoulder, where he'd grabbed it earlier, but his jaw remained unclenched.
I could hear people behind me, organizing medicine to be sent to their burnt tributes, but I couldn't care less for them.
As sad as it is, one of their deaths meant a better fighting chance for Lya.
Lya's POV
The sound of the canon echoed through the trees. Cora jerked awake and slipped from the branch but didn't go far. The vines I tied around us during the night had a firm grip and kept her from falling.
Across the gathering, Alton and Titus both drew their weapons. We waited and we listened as the sun slowly rose, encasing the leaves with a golden light.
Finally, we stretched our sore limbs from sitting frozen for so long, and climbed down.
Alton filled all our empty bottles with water, knowing that we might not get a chance to find another source. We collected long strings of strong vine and roped them around our chests. Cora collected a few large leaves. While we had eaten, she had woven them into a strong shield for herself, and I sat amazed at her small hands dancing across the green fronds. It reminded me of the days I used to watch Ria sit on her old stool, her hands moving nimbly with the thread.
We emerged from the forest area and into the wheat field. Cora and I were able to jog comfortably, but Titus and Alton especially, had to duck every now and then when the wheat height became low. This always made Cora laugh, a joyous tinkling sound. We moved carefully, myself with a knife in my right hand while I ran.
"There doesn't appear to be anything around here, just more wheat" Titus said, his voice breathy with exhaustion.
"Maybe if we went in further?" Cora replied.
We hadn't strayed too far in to the field; we wanted to stay near the shoreline for a quick escape if needed.
I slowed as up head the wheat began to thin and I saw trees through the long grass.
"We need to go in there" I said, and I pointed to the next forest area.
"What is it? What District?" Titus asked.
I pulled the map from one of the inside pockets in my jacket and opened it carefully. Scanning the sections I found the one next to the wheat field.
"Its District 10" I replied.
"District 10." Came Cora, "Well known for its livestock"
"We can hunt in there" I said to Alton. He nodded in agreement.
"Wait, what if its not so easy. Nothing so far has been easy. It could be full of anything in there, you have no idea what you'd be walking in too!" Titus pulled me back roughly by the arm.
"Look around" I seethed at Titus. "Of course its not going to be easy, but guess what. Im hungry, you're hungry, we're all hungry. If we don't find food soon, the next cannon shot will be for us." And I ripped my arm from his grip.
"Fine" He started "but Im going with you. Alton can stay here with Cora. Keeping honest right?"
I looked up at Alton and we had a silent conversation though our eyes. Finally he relented and Titus and I made our way into the unknown woodland.
He broke a long, thick stick of a sapling and swung it around a few times.
"Pass a knife here" He held out a hand towards me.
I smoothly whipped one from my sheath and passed it over, handle first. He took it and began to sharpen the end of his makeshift spear. I leant over and put my hand on the knife.
"Like this" I said, and I showed him how to make even strokes, and the wood began peeling into curls and falling to the forest floor.
He looked up at me surprised.
"Just don't blunt my knife" I smiled mischievously at him and walked on.
He followed a few steps behind, looking up every now and then to scout around. As Titus was handing me back my knife, we heard a twig crack and I froze, both knives at the ready.
A low growl came from my left, and I ducked lower in a defensive stance, twirling the knives in my hands facing the hidden animal.
Titus took up position behind me, his right arm raised with the spear.
We waited, solid in our stances as the ferns moved gently with the animals breathing. Titus stiffened behind me.
"There's another on our south" he whispered through tight lips.
Just as he finished talking, the creature behind us leapt through the air and Titus whirled on the spot flinging his spear. It hit the brown blur through the shoulder and it crumpled to the ground. Rolling over, the spear broke off and it began to circle us. It was over five feet tall, resembling something like a cow with its hooves and horns. It was muscular, and it snorted madly. Its red eyes glowed with anticipation.
"Mutts" Titus breathed.
His back was pressed against mine as the mutt walked around us. I slipped him one of the knives and his hand enclosed mine for a few moments. As the bull-like creature limped around us, the second one joined it, forming a second counter circle.
"Wait…just wait.." I whispered.
The one Alton hit was limping badly, and I knew it was going to stagger any second, just as I tensed it stumbled into the ground, its massive weight unable to bear with its wound. The first creature turned to it and I took my shot. Flicking the knife around in my hand, I launched it at the unwounded one. The knife imbedded itself into its eye with a squelch and the creature howled and came for me. Titus pushed me aside as it leapt and the creature took him down to the ground. Titus stabbed repeatedly and I pushed the animal off him. It rolled aside, dead and bloody. I helped Titus to his feet; his chest was bleeding pretty badly.
We turned to take care of the other mutt, but it had crawled away.
"Thanks" I said breathlessly, trembling from the confrontation.
"Well, at least we don't have to hunt now" Titus said, and smiled weakly.
"Come, sit. I need to take a look at you" I said strongly, and helped him over to a tree and propped him against it.
His tunic was soaked in blood and I took off his jacket and lay it to the side.
He groaned as I moved him and I opened my pack to see what I had.
I had a wrapping of cotton that I had taken from Alton's medical kit, which should be enough to stop the bleeding.
Titus lifted his arms up and pulled off his shirt, when I looked up from my pack, he was sitting half naked grinning at me.
I just raised my eyebrows at him and poked his stomach.
"Hey!" He exclaimed. "That hurts you know".
Now it was my turn to smile and I leant down to look at the gash.
"When the mutt charged you, it must have stabbed you with its horn. Its not too deep, which is good, so I should be able to bandage it, but I don't have anything for the pain, sorry."
I used some of the precious water in my pack to clean his chest, and as the water washed the blood away, I saw the strong muscles beneath it. Clothed, you couldn't tell, but sitting here, naked before me, I could see the strength in Titus's body.
"Lya" He said slowly, a laugh playing in his voice. "Are you blushing?"
"Nope" I said firmly. "I'll be right back"
I stood up and walked to a nearby plant, gathering large leaves and throwing Titus's wet, bloody shirt over a branch to dry it.
Returning to Titus, I packed them tightly into the wound. I didn't have anything to stitch him up with, but hopefully this would sustain.
"Definitely blushing" Titus winked at me.
I looked up, staring straight into his green eyes. I leaned close to him, and he moved nervously beneath me. I kept moving towards him until our faces were inches apart.
"Titus?" I whispered.
"Yea?" he swallowed nervously, his eyes darting to my lips and back.
"I could always let you bleed to death" I murmured sweetly.
He laughed anxiously at me and I pulled back to grab the wrapping from the pack.
"Shame one of us will have to die eventually" He says sadly.
I just nod and palpate his wound, wrapping it carefully in the bandage. As I worked Titus watched over my shoulder, keeping an eye out.
I secured the bandage, my hands running over his bare chest. Titus smirked at me but didn't dare say anything else.
I walked over to the dead mutt, and made an incision in its flesh.
"The meat is like that of a cows" I called back to Titus.
"Well, It should be okay to eat…right?" he replied.
"I don't think they were mutts" I said slowly. "They just looked like wild creatures to me. Mutts would have at least been genetically altered, they were too normal"
"They were unusually aggressive for cows" Titus pointed out. "Like they were on trackerjackers."
We both paused after he said this and looked at each other.
"The meat should still be fine, we'll just stay away from anything near the stomach"
I cut the animal into chunks, sectioning the more tender meat out of the beast. I placed it on a large leaf and drew each end of the leaf up, securing it in a parcel. I made another two parcels of meat and packed them into my bag. I handed Titus his shirt and he winced while he pulled it on, followed by his jacket.
We searched around for a little bit until we found a stream where we filled our canteens.
Titus jumped when we heard another creature growling, this time further away.
"We need to go" He said, and he grabbed my hand and we ran back to where we entered the forest. We crept into the wheat field and it wasn't long before Alton and Lya found us.
We relayed our adventure to a wide-eyed Cora and a stern faced Alton, and we all agreed that we shouldn't stay in that terrain for the night. I pulled the map from my pocket and added "beast forest" to the District 10 section.
"Im hungry" Cora whined.
"We need to find a place to settle, and then we can eat" Alton said to her.
"I think we should keep moving" Titus piped in. "Our chances are better if we stay on the run."
I make a start for the field line, Titus behind me, with Cora in the middle, and Alton in the rear. Moving quietly through the wheat, we enter the beginning of the beast forest and try to walk silently with twigs cracking under our feet. The growling is still audible, but at least it's not anywhere close to us. We pause to rest, drinking and chewing a few bits of dried meat I had in my pack from the Cornucopia. It's not long till we are again on the move, always looking over our shoulders. The terrain is rougher now, and Titus is having trouble jumping over the tree logs. I offer him my hand and he takes it gratefully. Alton takes the lead with a tired Cora on his shoulders, and Titus and I follow, our hands joined together in our temporary alliance.
Soon, we arrive at the edge of the forest.
"There are too many forests" Titus mutters to me and I laugh.
The next section is supposed to be District 11, and I can already smell the sweetness of the fruit trees in the afternoon air.
I don't remember how long I've been in the arena for already, it's been a few moons since I arrived. The journey between terrains can sometimes take a day or two, and we've moved though three of them already.
"I can smell something delicious" Cora says excitedly.
We enter the territory, moving deeper into the back of the arena to take cover. The trees are thicker here and the scent of the fruit is overwhelming.
"This is good" Titus says. "The smell will cover the scent of our cooking meat."
"We just have to move deep enough they don't see the smoke"
"I can cook without smoke" I add.
We make shelter in the divided roots of a large apple tree and Alton brings me wood to make a fire with. I place rocks over the twigs and use two rocks to strike a spark. I didn't want to waste our matches, not while fire was so easily created in this terrain.
Titus was sitting braced against the nook of the tree, untying a package of meat and placing one piece in a single leaf and resealing it. He made twelve small parcels, each with a chunk of meat inside. Cora scaled the tree above him and dropped four apples below, which he also wrapped and handed to me with the meat.
With the rocks on top of the fire, they heated quickly, and prevented smoke from billowing. I placed the packages of meat on the scorching stones and the leaves crackled as the meat began to cook. Cora collected a whole bundle of apples, pears and a strange orange fruit that was round. They placed these in Alton's pack, incase we had to make a quick getaway.
Once the meat was almost cooked, I put the apples onto the stones and the rich aroma of baked fruit filled the air.
The sky above us was turning a dark gray fast as the sun went down. It matched the gray in Alton's concerned eyes as he watched the clouds move in. We ate a parcel of meat each in silence, simply savoring what would surely be fleeting peace.
"That sky is going to rain any second now" Cora says as she munches happily.
Together, Titus and Alton string up the tarp that was in my pack, and I was glad it had been included. Using the ropes, we strung it across two branches and down into the ground near the opening of the two roots we were sitting between. From one side, we secured it to the root beneath it, leaving the other side open, so that we could escape if needed, and so rain would run down our diagonal tent roof.
Alton and I walked around to where the roof was attached to the root, and covered it in leaves and branches so no one would be able to tell we were there. From an approaching eye, it would simply look like part of the tree had fallen over.
"Im going for a scout" Alton said to me.
"Be careful, please" I murmur and place a cold hand on his chest.
"Don't worry Lya, I wont leave you alone with those two" He smirks and starts to make a wide arch around our camp.
I scurried back into our tent just as the first few raindrops began to patter on my face. I scooted in next to Cora, and brushed her blonde hair back from her face. She was messily eating her apple dumpling that I'd baked, and I thought sadly that these would be her last happy moments soon.
I pulled my hair from the plait Cinna had left it in and ran my fingers through it, undoing the knots. As I flicked it over my shoulder I noticed Cora had fallen asleep, apple in one hand. I took the apple and placed it back on the stones. Gently, I pulled Lya into one of the corners of our makeshift house.
I pulled off my jacket and covered her shivering body.
"She's worn out, poor thing" Titus whispered softly. "She shouldn't even be here".
"I know" I reply.
"Neither should you." He said. "I saw what you did at the Reaping. You didn't have to."
"I care about the ones I love, I don't let them suffer." I muttered, shivering from the cold.
The stones weren't doing much to keep us warm now that the rain had started, even in our little enclosed tarp house.
"Here" Titus said and he started to shrug off his jacket.
"No" I stopped him. "You're wounded, you'll need it more than I will if hypothermia sets in."
"Well you're no good to me if you freeze to death" He counters.
I sigh and say "Let me have a look at that" I point to his bleeding wound.
He lifts up his shirt and I remove the bandage and clean the gash in his stomach. I replace the leaves with fresh ones, and rinse out the bandage, placing it under the stones until its dry. Wrapping Titus back up, I catch his green eyes staring at me.
"What did you do, back in District 12?" He asked, curiously.
"I lived with a seamstress, I washed clothes and mended them when needed"
"Is that who you volunteered for?"
'Yeah." I paused for a while, and he flinched when my cold hands prodded his wound, checking that the bleeding had stopped.
"Do you have a family?" I asked casually.
"Don't." came his reply. "Don't Lya. Lets not do all that. I wont be able to kill you when the time comes. Even before I went into all this, I didn't think I could kill anyone, until it came to the moment, and there was no choice. It was them or me Lya, and even now, looking at you...I just cant."
I nodded. "I know how you feel. When I met Alton, I stayed away. I didn't want to make friends, but something like this, it bonds you for life."
"So are you and he…?" He casually ran his hand though his hair.
"No" I smiled.
"You're a strong person Lya; you're going to win. I know it." Titus took one of my hands in his and smiled warmly at me.
I smiled back but the pit in my heart was tearing right through me. It wasn't fair that people had to die, had to suffer, all so the Capitol could sit and watch for their own sick entertainment.
I trembled in the cold wind, as the rain howled down on us.
Alton appeared in the opening, his hair drenched from the fall.
He ran his hands through it, his clothes mostly dry underneath thanks to the synthetic lining that was inside.
"All good out there" he whispers.
"I'll take watch" Titus replies.
"Are you sure?" Alton asks.
"Yea, cant sleep anyway with the constant throbbing of pain" He jokes and gestures to his torso.
Alton shrugs in response and crossing to Cora, he settles down next to her, his large body protecting her from the cold winds. He throws his sleeping bag over the both of them. I think he's grown quite fond of our little friend.
I turn back to Titus and he's staring out at the rain, biting his lip.
I look at him with a worried expression when he grimaces and clutches his stomach.
Squeezing his hand assuredly, I reach for my own sleeping bag. I pause, normally Cora and I share and the boys alternate.
Sensing my hesitance, Titus turns from the picturesque rainfall to me.
"Come here" he whispered.
I lean into him gently, being careful not to lean on his wound. He wraps one arm around me, snaking down over my waist and drawing me close. I place the sleeping bag over both of us and hand him one of the knives from my sheath. He sticks it into the ground on the other side of us and lays my head down on his shoulder. He draws the sleeping bag up to my neck and tucks it in, keeping me warm.
"Goodnight Lya" he whispers, his hand absentmindedly twirling through the curls in my hair.
"Goodnight Titus" I reply.
Somehow, in someway, I had formed a bond with this odd boy from District 5, and like it or not, I dont think I was going to be able to kill him if the time comes.
Like it or not, we were in this together.