Previously:
The careers have spent the night out hunting, and Jemima (D1) told her alliance member and friend Sarienna (D10) to run, sacrificing herself to the careers and accepting her death. Before she can be tortured too much by Torva (D2), who is going off the rails, she eats a blueberry which she is allergic too, resulting in her being the games first death.
Emery(D12), while walking through the woods stepped on something which closed around her ankle.
Blaze (D11) has set up camp near the careers and is watching/stealing from them.
Dawn Hazlewood
The rest of my alliance is sound asleep, tired out of after our big night out killing the girl from one. I stare at the labels on the torch, illuminated by the glow of the fire. Torchwood, the brand is. It took me a while to work this out. I've always had trouble reading. Back in four when I explained this to teachers, they just rolled their eyes and told me to do better while muttering about how dumb I was behind my back. But they explained my condition to me in the capital. Dyslexia, they call it. Apparently there are others like me. Capital children with the condition can get an operation and have it fixed, while those in the districts aren't so lucky. I was promised this operation if I return home.
When I was told, I was over the moon. How great it would be to go back to my district as the crowned victor and rub it all in those mean teachers faces. All I had to do was stick with the careers and I would be all good. But I'm not so sure about that plan anymore.
Torva is on the edge of a mental breakdown, I think we all know. When we arrived back from hunting, he smashed up several crates, which are all still lying around broken into many pieces on the ground. All because the girl outsmarted him. He had that look in his eye, the same one he got when his eyes fell on that pair of girls. I don't like or trust him one bit.
Jasper... He gets on my nerves. He is too chilled, to calm and too confident. He doesn't take the games to seriously for my liking. Hale is nice enough, but as long as she is with the rest I wouldn't stay with her. I guess the only one I can stand is Sebastian. We definitely aren't the best of friends, and I rarely talk to him unless needed, but he always brings a sense of comfort to me. He is a reminder of home.
I put down the torch and rise slowly from the ground. No one so much as stirs as I load up two backpacks with as many supplies as I can fit. I wonder how many crates Torva will smash this time when he realises I have not only left, but taken all the best supplies with me.
Once I am done, I stand in the place where my sleeping bag would normally be, not rolled up in my backpack like it is now. The rest of the career alliance is in a circle around the fire, fast asleep in their own sleeping bags. I feel like I should leave a note, an explanation, but there are no explanations in the Hungers Games. Only death.
And with that, I walk away, leaving the cornucopia and my alliance behind. But as I enter the tree line I realise something. They are no longer my alliance.
They are my competition.
Blaze Ewlood
At normal times, I am an impatient person. And that is why sitting in a tree all day, only being able to sit and watch the careers, leaves me literally itching to do something. Several times I have been up off my branch, halfway down the tree on my way to sneak into the cornucopia while the careers go out, leaving one guard. But I somehow manage to drag myself back up, knowing that going while a career there is just plain stupid.
My food can't last forever thuugh. I start to get scared and wonder if I will ever have a chance to get more food. I finally decide that I should move on from the careers. Just as I am planning to move away the next day, something amazing happens.
I am sitting up late, finalising my plans for tomorrow. I'll go when they have all just woken, and are eating breakfast. After observing them, I've noticed they all eat at the same time. This is the only time they are without a guard. I have already packed my backpack, and I will just have to simply slip away when it is time.
As I am drifting off into sleep, I realise something...someone is moving through the career camp. I shake myself to wake back up and slowly crawl along the branch to get closer.
It's Dawn, I realise. She is sneaking around the cornucopia, packing things neatly into a bag. My heart starts beating faster and I feel a little hope. I watch intensely, as she loads herself up with gear, and finally stops to look over her companions. Don't tell me...
But she does. She turns and walks in my directions. She hits the tree line and doesn't laugh and turn back. Her face is set hard, and I can see her mouth moving as she walks at a fair distance from my tree.
"Goodbye."
And before I know it her figure fades into the night, and I can no longer see her. I release the breath I have been holding. This is my chance. I hurriedly empty my bag and grab my axe in a quick decision. I scoot down the tree, and huddle at the edge of the tree line.
I can feel the energy pumping in my veins. I love this feeling. None of the careers have stirred, so I slowly creep forward. This is second nature to me. I keep my steps light and my body near the ground. I probably go a bit faster then I should be, but all this sitting around has made me impatient and the need to do something fun overwhelms the thought that I should be careful.
When I get to the circle of careers on the floor, they are none the wiser that someone has invaded their camp. I know I need to be quick, so I duck into the cornucopia and start quietly filling up my bag. I don't worry about what I grab, as anything that is missing they will assume Dawn has taken. I decide to take another bag, in case I don't get the chance to come back again.
Once I have filled both bags, I go against my safety instincts and observe the careers. I could grab a knife right now, and kill one of them. It would be so easy, but the risk of me not doing it properly and them waking up the rest of their alliance is very high. A though pops into my head- what if I poisoned their food? They would all die, and there would be no fighting involved for me. I am impressed by my stroke of genius, but there is no way I could get it done tonight.
So I tear myself away and head back to my branch, reassuring the part of my brain that wants to do something that it will happen in time.
Saxon Klinge
I hum as I make my way through the forest. For me I guess the games have been pretty normal so far. I set up a shelter next to the river. It was simple really, I just had to make a platform and install it into some dense vegetation. I even made a shelter for it, with a drainage system to collect water when it rains. The next job was to set up some traps to catch some game, of course. I'd never made any before, but I knew the theory so it was easy enough.
I stop to check a trap. It is an idea I created myself, using only bendy sticks and wood pegs. I see the vine has snapped shut, but whatever it caught has ripped the vine. I pick up the remainder of my trap to bring it back to fix. I am quite glad of it, as fixing it later will give me another distraction.
I keep walking, and wonder if the cameras have been on me much. Of course I know they would be following me all the time, since my factory helped to manufacture the XXXL cameras and the equipment (in the factory we call them speed computers, since they are top of the range, working at 2,678 GHz) they use to track and film us. The thing is, whether they would show much of me. The guy walking around making traps and thinking as much as the speed computers surely wouldn't get too much attention.
Snap
"Argh!"
I realise that I have been day dreaming again and that that doesn't sound too good. It sounded like a stick snapping, but I play it over in my head and my brain comes up with wild nightmares.
What if it was a career snapping someone's neck?
I untie the vine from a peg of my broken trap. It is simply a stick, about the third of the length of my forearm, with a pointed end. I know this will have to be my weapon. I regret my classically Saxon decision to leave my knife at my shelter.
I creep slowly along the ground, sticking behind trees. My heart pounds. I am an inventor, not some sort of hero. I am definitely not cut out for this.
I take a look behind my cover tree and quickly duck back behind. I don't know why I didn't realise before that the noise had come from one of my traps. I was quite proud of this one when I made it. I had found some rope in my backpack and had been able to make this one, so that it would enclose around an animal's foot and snap it up into the air. I'd expected maybe a squirrel-I'd seen lots of them running around the woods. Little did I expect to capture the girl from twelve.
What was her name? Ellery? Elaine? Something that started with an 'e'. Either way, she had been ensnared by my trap. The bit of rope was tied against her ankle, but instead of hanging head down, she had someone managed to hook her arms over a branch, so that her upper back and head was resting on it. Her black hair was ruffled and her tan cheeks were red. Her face was scrunched up, so hanging on must have needed a lot of effort.
I wondered how long she was there for. I'm no medical expert, but I know hanging upside down for longer than an hour can cause blood clots, strokes and death. That's why she must be leaning on the branch for support. She obviously doesn't have any weapons on her or she would have cut the trap and be gone by now. I stand up, keeping behind the tree to see if she has dropped something on the ground. There is no backpack, or your everyday weapons, but I recognise the lone object lying on the leaves at first glance.
The metallic sliver bent into a half circle, closed together with jagged edges. While it is not engaged you can still tell messing with these jaws of steel will result in a lost limb. The Hang jaws is a contraption used mainly for catching large game. And when I say large, I mean larger then even a human. I imagine the traps I could make with the Hang Jaws. At least the poor animals I was catching would have quick deaths, they wouldn't know any different before their head was no longer attached to their body.
I snap back to reality when I hear more grunting from the girl. She is putting all her effort and strength into pulling more of her body up the branch. I quickly realise that is she does this she could unite the rope from her ankle and quickly get away. I panic, and before I can put more thought into it I pick up the nearest thing to me-a rock half the size of my fist- and chuck it as hard as I can.
I don't know exactly where I was aiming, but the rock hits the girl on her upper arm. She cries out, either from shock or fear and her arms slip so that she is just clinging on the branch. She lets out another yell before her fingers slowly slip. Her body is falling, until the rope reaches its full length and pulls tight, keeping her hanging in the air. She grabs her leg, possibly having pulled a muscle. But she can't do anything but hang there.
I could easily walk away...but the Hang Jaw is too good to pass up. While the girl is distracted, pulling at the rope around her ankle. I could sneak out, grab the Hang Jaws and be gone before she even sees me. I decide this is the best plan, and slowly step from beyond the tree...
Crack
A small twig snaps underneath me, but it is enough to scare her out of her wits so that she flings around to see me, a look of horror on her face. She calms down the slightest bit, wether from being glad I'm not the careers or maybe the look on my face shows more fear then hers.
"Make it fast," she says, keeping a straight face and somehow managing to look dignified while hanging upside down.
I stay quiet. 'make it fast'. She thinks I'm going to kill her. Could I kill her in cold blood? I don't think I could, but then what would I do? I could leave her hanging here, so it's technically the traps fault. But that makes it my fault too, with me being the one who set the trap and the one who decided not to let her go. I could cut the rope and run? No, I don't know much about her and if she could be trusted not to follow me. My eyes are drawn to the Hang Jaws. I want them; they could be a chance to show my knowledge to the sponsors. I wonder if this girl has sponsors. I hope she doesn't, because they might try and send a knife to her which she could use to cut the rope and finish me off. At least in that case if she cut the trap away before I stopped her I would have more of an advantage, as she would be disorientated from going from upside down to the right way up. I wonder if she would be able to catch up with me even if I got a head start. I observe her, noticing she does have an athletic build, meaning her work would involve physical activity. She also has very pretty eyes, large, grey and...staring right at me.
"Are you just going to stand there? Or do you need more time to figure out how to kill me?" The accusing tone in her voice makes me want to defend myself.
"No! I was just thinking if I should let you go or not!" Stupid me, now she knows I won't kill her. I am just giving her more and more confidence the more time I spend in her company. Great move Saxon, great move.
But I don't know what to do, I shouldn't be making this decision. Gosh, I really need time to think. And so I decide to take a seat on a root and do just that.
"What are you doing? Are you just going to leave me hanging here?" the girl looks a mix between shock and angry.
"Just be quiet, and let me think," I snap back.
She gives me one of those 'you did just not' faces I always receive from my mum when I am in trouble, but at least stays silent. The girl...wow, I really need to find out her name.
"What's your name?" I ask.
"Emery..." she looks distrusting, like I could somehow use her name to kill her.
"And you are from twelve?" She nods.
"You're from three?" She asks. This time I nod.
"Saxon," I say, sparing her from asking my name herself.
We go back to silence. I realise I don't know much about Emery. I have no idea if I can trust her or not. Maybe if I just got her talking.
"So...how did you end up in my trap?" Oh wow, that has got to be the worst conversation starter in history. Emery gives me a look fit for a mental patient, but answers anyway.
"Well I was walking and I stepped on it and your stupid trap yanked me in the air."
"Oh..." My reply is weak, and trails off. I can practically hear Panem laughing at me. I've always been rather awkward around girls.
Okay Saxon, think. You have a few options.
1 Leave her hanging here. But that way she will either die, which I don't think I could leave her here to do now that I've had a conversation with her. She could also escape and follow me, possibly finishing me off.
2 I could let her down and make her promise not to hurt me, but who knows it she is trustworthy.
3 I could ask her if she wanted to form an alliance. But once again, can I trust her?
I think I can rule out number one, but that brings me to either sending her on her way, or asking her to join me. I've always preferred to work alone. That way it is so much easier for me to concentrate. But I have to admit I have missed human company the past few days. It's day four of the games and while I've been getting on okay, what happens if the careers find me? I can't fight even one of them off on my own.
I don't know what possesses me to say what I say next. But once it has been said, there is no going back.
"Would you...Would you like to form an alliance?"
I *insertmynamewhichiwontsayhere* am a horrible human being and I beg for mercy for not uploading this earlier.
I have a lot of excuses I guess, but I won't bore you all with them (my computer is finally fixed though!).
Not much more to say, I'm sorry for no deaths but it's really confusing to explain. It has something to do with the way I (randomly) choose which tribute dies next, which I think is very creative. Maybe I'll explain it to you all at the end (hehe did anyone catch that pun?). In the meantime, please don't kill me when your tribute dies because the universe decided, not me :)
So, bye I guess. I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker this time!