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I see the silhouette striding confidently towards us, not bothering to even stay vigilant. Understandably a Career.
Gracia picks up her feet and sprints to camp, dodging trees and rocks, soaring through the forest. I am not so hasty. I hear the footsteps behind me building; gathering momentum. The predator takes an intake of breath and leaps, gripping their hands around my neck.
"Pippa!" Gracia shouts, a few hundred metres in front.
"Go!" I scream and I see her dash back.
My body goes limp before I even consciously realise what has happened. It must be only a second that's passed, but I can already feel my throat closing before my body is thrown to the floor. I gasp for breath, choking. I roll over onto my back to see only a few paces ahead of me; Griffin, sorrow filling his eyes, now green in the sunlight.
"I didn't know!" He shouted; his voice filled with fury, the veins rising on his temple. How could he not tell it was me? How many other tributes have long curly brown hair with a clip that easily reads the number '12'. Did he really not know? Or did he just hope I wouldn't realise it was him?
I hurry to my feet and race back to camp, not looking back. My neck is already beginning to bruise. I try to keep a low profile but with my throat so swollen coughs end up occurring every minute, my throat burning.
Eventually I stagger to our site, to find Gracia sobbing high up in a tree, Austin and Eilish looking distraught also. I pin back the branches and their eyes instinctively follow. All at once a look of joy crosses their faces and Gracia jumps from the tree and squeezes me protectively.
"Gracia told us you were dead." Eilish said, confused.
"I almost was."
"But Pippa, he had his hands round your neck. How did you free yourself?" Gracia asked.
Think, think. How could I have got free, what could I have done?
"My knife, I, uh, slashed him didn't I." I say, unconvincingly.
"Oh right," Gracia says warily. "I'm just so glad you're here, I couldn't bear to lose both of you in one day."
"We don't know that Storm is dead, it could be anyone! He's probably set up camp somewhere himself, just for yesterday and tonight. Don't worry about it." I reply, trying to comfort Gracia.
"Well we'll find out in a minute anyway." Austin says, just as the sun is setting.
We skin the rabbit Gracia caught, and, with Eilish's help, manage to cook it without giving away our location. Somehow the fire seems to float to our left for a few hundred metres before diagonally rising. The four of us silently eat our meals; my stomach is churning, awaiting the news of who is dead.
We look to the sky to see the Capitol seal appear, lighting up the sky. Only one face will be up in the sky tonight, let's just hope it's not Storm.
We hold our breaths, waiting for the profile to appear. The person that materialises in the sky is that of the boy from District Four, a Career. We all gasp, but quietly cheer that Storm is still alive. I can't help but think at the back of my mind however, what happens to the Careers now? What happens to Griffin?
I walk to the lake a few minutes away and fill up my water, putting three droplets of iodine in it before strolling back. Nothing makes sense. Why Griffin is trying so hard to protect me. He knows only one person comes out alive and that won't be me, surely it would be easier to kill me quickly, make it less painful for my family to watch. For me to maybe even get to the final five and then have my life taken away from me in a fit of rage for survival by one of the other tributes. That would be a worse fate.
I get back to camp and try to sleep, knowing that my watch is in four hours. It's no use though, so I tell Austin to take a nap and I'll do both shifts.
"Are you sure? I'm fine to keep lookout."
"No it's fine honestly, it's easier for both of us, and I'm not going to sleep any time soon."
I prop myself up against a tree and take guard. Hours pass and my eyes still don't feel heavy enough to sleep, so I don't wake Eilish for her turn. The hum of the forest is soothing, the hoot of the owls and scuttering of the woodland animals, I wish I had had chance to go to the forest back at home, maybe even with Caspar. As the sun starts to rise I appreciate its beauty once more and then awaken my allies.
"Pippa, you were supposed to wake me." Eilish exclaims sleepily.
"I couldn't sleep." I reply, my eyes squinting in the light of the sun.
"I guess we're going to have to find Storm today." Austin interrupts.
"Yep." Eilish replies.
We set off, thinking of the possible places Storm would pick to shelter in. I don't have much input as I didn't even know Storm that well when I met him in the Capitol, due to my own fault, but I guess it has to be different in the arena.
The search lasts for hours as we wander, weapons in hand. We come across a tribute at one point and face off, unsure whether to attack. The girl from eleven.
She recoils as soon as she sees us, only a rope in her hand. I pity her, she can't kill anyone with that, and her frame is small, her golden brown skin clinging to her bones. I pull out a strip of beef and toss it to her. She looks at me uncomprehendingly, but shoves it in her mouth with great emphasis. Smiling at me, she runs away.
My allies look at me, bewildered; but don't challenge my actions. Maybe they felt the same sympathy for her as I did, who knows? I wasn't going to ask them.
After a while longer we stop and finish off the last of our food, but we can hunt. As soon as we set off again I see a twitch in the bush. I turn my head and watch it, thinking it maybe an animal to kill. I brush the leaves aside to see a human. Dirt covering them all over, a poor attempt at camouflage. I wonder who it is, their hollow cheeks and parched lips, I can't decipher whether they are a boy or girl before I see the broadness of their shoulders. I brush the mud out of their hair with my fingers to see it glowing silver. It is Storm.