My next step lands me in a pile of sand.
The tiny granules of rock stretch on in every direction. Well, that's not totally true; they stretch on in every direction in front of me. Mara, Thorn, and I were just about to take the first few steps into the desert.
The journey here has been difficult. I'm used to the terrain by now, but my leg is still healing and I have a heavy backpack on me. My body aches with a deep pain and sweat has been pouring out of my brow nonstop. The slowly setting sun is still bearing down on us very hard. But now we are at the brink of the desert, where our journey will only increase in difficulty. .
I saw it from the parachute, when I first landed in the arena: a giant yellow wasteland that takes up a large chunk of the arena. But that wasn't like staring at it head-on. I couldn't quite comprehend its magnitude from the air. Now that I'm down here, it looks endless. I know it is about a third of the terrain here, but from my vantage point, I don't see anything except more and more sand. I cannot see an end to the vast dessert. It really shows just how huge this arena really is.
Thorn or Mara haven't taken a step yet. We all feel hesitant to do so. The desert is easy to get lost in, and our daylight is fading quickly. We need to find the place of the feast before dark.
"What are we waiting for?" Mara demands, hustling forward into the sand. "We need to get moving."
"Thorn, do you know where we're supposed to go?" I ask. I don't want to leave until I know for certain we're I'm going.
"I...I think so." he says, staring up at the sky. I look up too and see that his view is focused on the sun. He must use it to track our position.
"Are you sure?" Mara asks.
"As sure as I can be." he says.
"What's that mean?"
"It means..." he pauses, "that I only saw the spotlight for a brief moment. It's hard to accurately gauge distance from that far away."
Well, if anyone can find the feast, it will be Thorn. After a brief pause, Thorn and I follow Mara into the wasteland.
Within seconds of starting our desert trek, I instantly notice a difference. The ground is slippery beneath my feet. I've walked on sand before, just like any District Four native. But this is different. Instead of the hard packed wet sand from beaches, this is dry and loose. Every footstep sends up particles of dust in the air. The sand finds its way into my eyes, my hair, and my clothes. The journey is rough.
Hard too, is the time it takes to travel. With our feet sliding in the dunes and nothing steady to walk on, we don't make much progress. The sun bears down even harder it seems. Soon the sweat runs down my face as it collects beads of sand on its progression.
My mood worsens the more I'm out here. My throat itches for water, but my itch can't be satisfied. We're all out of the sacred liquid. No more water. Every second under the unfiltered sun makes more sweat pouring down my face - more water that my body is losing. I'm beginning to feel the affects.
It feels like hours after we started that I can no longer see the rock terrain we left behind. Now all I can see is sand, sand, and more sand. The sun's descent seems to be mocking me even, turning the sky into orange, the color of the desert.
"Night's coming." I remark.
Thorn merely grunts in response.
"Are we far?" Mara asks.
Thorn doesn't respond.
"Are we far?" I echo.
"Look," Thorn says, "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?!" I yell.
He sighs, "I guess...I don't know, I just...it's a big desert okay!"
"I thought you were the genius here!" I angrily slam my bag down on the ground.
"I don't see you helping very much here!" Mara spits out.
I rub my tongue over my dry, dry lips and they crackle from the moisture. Mara is defending Thorn. I know it's not his fault, not really, but I am too tired and thirsty to care. They are both pissing me off right now.
"So we're lost." I say.
Thorn begins, "Well, we're not lost-"
"We're lost." I say, cutting him off with a glare. "We have no idea which way to go. We're stuck in the middle of a freaking dessert with a feast tomorrow. We've already run out of water."
"Oh, we're back to that again?" Mara scoffs.
"Yeah, we're back to that again!" I yell. "If we had gone to the river, we would actually have some water to drink right now!"
"Oh, that's my fault?" Mara says, her voice rising.
"Of course it's your fault!"
"Maybe if your leg hadn't been slowing us down, we would have had time to actually go to the river!"
I don't have anything to say to this. How dare she blame me? As if I wanted to be injured for days? I'm slow because Toren betrayed me.
Thorn fills the silence, "Annie, this is no one's fault. We just have to keep moving. We might be able to find the place in time, who knows? Look, I know you don't like the desert-"
"What's that mean?" I bark.
Mara interrupts Thorn, "It means that District Four is worthless in the desert. Or mountains. Or plains. Or forest. Or anything else that isn't a lake."
My blood begins to boil. "Look, princess. I survived on my own out here for three days. How 'bout you? Huh? Can you make it even one day without sponsor gifts or your boyfriend to help you out? "
Mara takes out her ax. "You take that back."
I grimace. "Make me."
Mara steps forward towards me, only to be stopped by Thorn. "Stop it, now. Both of you. Fighting amongst-"
Mara shoves him aside. "You're going to regret this, Annie."
I grin. "Bring it on-" A movement catches my attention out of the corner of my eye that makes me stop talking mid-sentence. A yellow line, the exact color of the sand. Instinctively, I sense danger.
Mara swings the butt of her ax, taking my attention away. I duck, lithely moving my body out of harm's way. Mara is preparing another strike, but I'm not focused on that. My hand is already reaching for a throwing knife at my belt.
In a blink of an eye the moving object in the sand strikes, and I see what it is: a mutt. The knife is already flying out of my hand, my reflexes faster than the snake. The beige head of the serpent lashes forward to Thorn, the closest person to the thing.
"Thorn!" The snake tries to bite my ally, but the knife deters it for a moment. In a second, the snake's path is diverted and its bared fangs miss its target. Thorn, realizing the danger, slices with his sword just as the mutt strikes again. Steel meets skin. The snake's head flies through the air after the sword separated it from its body.
Mara, who is standing over me prepared to hit me, again, stops when she sees the snake's head on the ground. A trickle of blood drips from the flesh. The rest of the yellow body is draped over Thorn, showing just how close this was. Thorn is on the ground, panting from adrenaline. It all happened in the blink of an eye.
"What was that?" I ask.
"Some sort of snake." Mara says.
"No." Thorn replies flatly, "It's a mutt. Look at those fangs; they're nearly three times as big as a normal snake's. And it's longer than it should be."
The eyes of the snake are looking at me. A drop of venom lies on the fangs, which are bared open fiercely. It's much scarier than the black and white sea snakes I've come across in District Four. I have no doubt that it's deadly enough to kill every tribute in this arena if the Gamemakers willed it.
Thorn takes the lifeless body off of him and throws it across a dune. The snake flies through the air and lands with a burst of sand.
"Are there more?" I say as I kick away the head, not wanting to look at it any more.
"Probably." Mara says. "When's the last time a mutt has been on its on in the Games?"
"The Fifty-Seventh." Thorn murmurs under his breath.
"We need to build a fire." I say. "Fire scares off snakes, right?"
"We can't make a fire- we're in the middle of a desert." Mara says.
"We can try to find some cactuses-cacti." I correct myself, "We passed some on the way here." Never mind the fact that cacti are much too wet to burn well.
I wait for someone to announce something else. But neither of them does. It's too dark to travel now. We're never going to make it to the feast, not without a miracle.
Mara takes out some food for us. Our petty feud in the past now, forgotten in the wake of the mutt attack. It's strange what the desert does to your head. Mara's mind went a little crazy from lack of water. If I'm being honest with myself, mine did so more than hers.
A slight pinging sound catches my attention. I look up to see a white parachute, a stark contrast to the black sky, falling slowly down.
"It's a sponsor gift!" Thorn exclaims.
"Way to go, Captain Obvious." Mara mocks. Thorn's too distracted by the parachute to care. When it is within reach, he grabs the package and opens it.
Please be water. Please be water.
Thorn opens the box. My heart sinks, it's not water. Thorn was right, it's too expensive.
He takes out a small vial of clear liquid. But he immediately tosses it aside once he sees the second object.
"A compass!" he says ecstatically.
He takes out the slim metallic device and instantly starts to examine it.
"Can it take us to the feast?" I ask.
"Yeah, I think so." Thorn grins widely.
He keeps fiddling with the compass. I take the first object from the box, a vial of liquid. Uncapping the top to reveal a white wick, I read the words on the side.
"It says..." I say, "It says it can burn slowly with a hot flame. " That short sentence is followed by the name of the chemical: an extremely long word that looks impossible to pronounce.
"Perfect." Mara says.
"It'll ward off the snakes for tonight." I agree.
It's actually not a bad gift, even though water isn't among the items. We have protection from mutts and a way to find the feast, which will hopefully have what we need. It's enough to last another day in this hellhole of a desert. After that we can be done with the hot sands.
I take out a match and light the wick. After a small start, the yellow flame grows bigger and bigger until a massive orange fire is flickering in my hand. It seems much too big for the small wick, but I guess we have good sponsors to afford such a good gift. This will come in handy.
Mara finds one last gift, a small note in the box. She reads it and smirks. I ask for the paper and she hands it to me.
Get along until the feast you three! Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.
-Brutus, Scylla, Cashmere
I wince guiltily at the message. Sometimes I forgot that the whole world can see what I'm doing.
I pass the message on to Thorn, who laughs as he reads it. He has nothing to worry about; he was the one stopping us from fighting. He's the only Career here who can actually keep a level head.
I place down the fire on the ground, the flames giving us plenty of light. Thorn has put the compass around his neck like a medallion and the firelight reflects on the metal as he starts setting up camp.
My backpack is the one with survival equipment in it, so I empty it for the group. We have matches, sleeping bags, camouflage, rope, medical supplies, and several other things. What will we need for tonight?
"How cold does it get in the desert at night?" I ask.
"How would I know?" Mara asks.
I stick out my tongue at her and then ask Thorn the same question.
"It can get pretty cold." he answers.
"So we'll need the sleeping bags?" I ask.
"For sure."
I take a black bag and unwrap it. It's pretty comfortable, especially after a long day of travel. It feels great to just lie down and to stretch my healing leg.
"Where's the other bag?" I hear Thorn ask.
"What?" I turn around to see him holding a brown sleeping bag.
"Where's the third one?" he repeats.
"Doesn't Mara have it?" I ask
"No." I look to see Mara standing next to the fire without the bag.
"Did we leave it behind?" Thorn asks.
"I guess we must have." I say. I didn't pack the bags, so I don't remember.
"We could share." Mara ventures to Thorn. He looks a little concerned so she continues, "It's big enough for both of us."
I giggle when I think I see Thorn's face redden.
"Oh come on!" Mara teases. "I don't bite."
"I'll...I'll take first watch." Thorn says. Now I know he's blushing.
He sits down and looks at the horizon, the matter settled. Mara climbs into the sleeping bag and turns away from him. She looks a little hurt by his refusal.
No matter. I resign to getting a good night's rest. I'll need it for tomorrow.
For the first time since the Games began, I'm not the last one to wake.
I open my eyes and instantly regret it. Particles of sand are scattered on my face and hair. I sit up and brush it off. Soon my hands are coated with the stuff, leaving everything I touch covered with sand. There's no chance of getting it out of my hair. Oh well, appearances don't matter much in the arena. .
The fire is still burning, only a third of the chemical gone. I blow out the flame to conserve it more. It's morning, so we should hopefully be able to see snake mutts if they come after us.
We need to get moving. Why isn't Thorn up by now? He's usually the first to rise.
I see my answer when I look at Mara's bag. They're both inside, snuggled up together. Inside the depths of sleep, the two of them don't look like highly trained killers anymore. Together they look almost...cute. Shame I have to wake them.
"Get up." I say to them. I briefly consider dumping sand on them, just like they did to me yesterday, but that would be too cruel. They would never get it out of the bag.
I kick the bag gently. Thorn awakes with a start. He blearily opens his eyes and sees me. "What time is it?" he murmurs.
"Oh, I'll just check my watch, the one I've had this whole time." I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
He looks up at the sky and sees the sun just barely above the horizon. "Why didn't you wake me up before?" he says urgently as he unzips the bag and stands up.
"I just woke up, obviously. You're the one who's supposed to wake everyone else." I say.
"Wha-" Mara whispers, still half asleep.
"Get up. We need to leave." Thorn shakes her awake.
"Did we miss the feast?" Mara asks.
"No, but we're going to if we don't get moving." I say.
Still tired, the three of us quickly pack our bags. I roll up the sleeping bags while Thorn doles out a small portion of food for breakfast. I scarf down the bread quickly. My stomach isn't full though, not even close. We're running low on food - water is completely gone. We need this feast, not just for the kills but for the spoils.
The three of us are packed and ready to go quickly. Thorn checks his compass to find our route. Hopefully this journey will be shorter.
Just as we're about to leave our encampment, I see the snake head from last night. The venom is still there, which gives me an idea. "Can we use it?"
"Use what?" Mara says.
"The snake head. It still has the venom in it; we can use the poison to our advantage." I remark, peering closely at the specimen. The head is just as creepy as it was yesterday, and I almost don't want to touch it.
"I don't want it." Thorn says. "I don't think it'll come in handy."
"Same." Mara says.
Nevertheless, I think it's better taken along. I take off my backpack and grab the head. The feel of the scaly skin under my fingers is disgusting and reminds me of fish scales from back home, and not in a good way. I quickly toss it in my bag and zip it back up.
"Done?" Mara asks, having watched me take the mutt.
"Yeah," I reply. "Ready to go?"
Thorn nods and points forward whilst looking at his compass. We start the hike.
It's harder than yesterday. My throat is more parched and my lips crackle in the hot sun, devoid of all moisture. The lack of water is taking its toll. I have less food for energy and less water. Every drop I'm sweating out means less and less of the precious liquid. I need water at the feast, or I might not make it out of the desert.
Worse still is my anxiety for the feast. I have no idea what's going to happen. Feasts always result in deaths, and while I will likely not be one of them, I very well could be. My reflexes are dulled from lack of food and my limbs feel sluggish. Although I have two allies, probably the two strongest contenders, to protect me, I still don't feel safe.
'What if's start to pile up in my head. What if someone attacks me from behind? What if there's no water? What if we can't find the feast? What if I freeze like I did with Jasmine and my alliance sees my weakness? What if we get lost in the desert? What if Toren is there, waiting to finish what he started?
The questions put me in a negative state of mind. I try to drown out my fears by concentrating on putting one foot in front of another.
It's only after an hour or two that we start to see something.
Thorn's the first one to point it out. "Look out there." He points directly ahead.
"What is it?" I ask. The sun makes waves of heat rising from the sand, so it's hard to see long distances clearly. It's only after I go by another dune do I see it.
What looks like brown speckles are right ahead of me. It's only when I get closer and closer do they become more clear. They become less and less fuzzy as we slowly walk towards them. I begin to make out the shapes.
It's clear to the three of us that it is the place of the feast.
After another half hour of travel, we arrive at the place. I don't really know how to describe it. It's like a...ruin. Like a city that was destroyed. Except instead of buildings it has archways and columns made out of carved boulders.
It's probably the size of a small town, a very small town. It's circular, with massive blocks of stones surrounding it. The stones are cracked and weathered, and look very, very old. They were probably black originally, but the sun has weathered them into a dull grey color. They are arranged strangely, not like anything I've ever seen. They are built in arcs and archways, but crudely made. Most are no more complicated than a horizontal slab heaved on two verticals ones.
"What is this place?" Mara wonders as she approaches one of the stones. She places her hand on it, mystified.
"I've no idea." Thorn murmurs.
The archways and stone slabs extend to both my left and right, forming a circular perimeter. I look inwards and see the carved boulders everywhere I look. Very little space is left between the stones, forming paths and trails through the ruins that connect and double-back and intersect in seemingly random ways. They are obviously placed for a reason, but not particularly well; the patterns are irregular and sometimes out of place. It will make for good nooks and crannies for hiding.
It's a maze made out of ruined stone blocks in the middle of the desert.
"We don't have much time." Thorn says. "The feast is going to start soon."
He walks forward into the strange ruins. He ducks under some slabs and moves around another one. When he sees our hesitation he goads us on, "Hurry!"
We begin to run through the maze of ruins, knowing the feast is at the center. I lose my way around in the massive columns and corridors and arches. It's too confusing. Within minutes I have no idea where I am. I don't know which direction points to the center and which is the way out. I'm lucky to have Thorn guiding me.
Thorn stops suddenly as we see the center. There's an empty room, well, not much of a room. There's no roof, but there are a lot of stone slabs around it, almost like walls. The ground is covered with sand, just like everything else. Inside the courtyard (yes, courtyard, that's the word), there's a simple table.
This is the place; I can feel it.
The three of us crouch down. No one can see us, that would be disastrous. If tributes see the Careers coming, they won't even bother trying to get the food and we'll lose the opportunity to make any kills.
"It'll start any moment." Thorn whispers.
I take out my knife in preparation. Thorn stares at the table, which is fifty yards away in broad view. Anyone who makes a dash for it will certainly be spotted by every single person around us. And there are so many places to hide, so any number of tributes could be nearby, waiting for a chance to steal food and water.
"We need to split up." Thorn mutters.
"What?!" I say.
"SH!" Thorn admonishes. "Be quiet. Don't let anyone hear you."
I nod so he continues, "We won't be able to cover every tribute if we stay together."
"We can't split up; it's too risky!" I warn.
"It's best this way." he says. I don't like this, not at all. My chances are significantly lowered if I am separated from my allies. This is a bad move.
"I'll stay here." Thorn says, "Mara, you go all the way around to the other side. Annie, you go halfway around. When the first tribute goes in for the feast, I'll attack them. Annie, you cover me with your knives. Mara, you kill the survivors; just go after anyone who runs away. Afterwards, we'll meet up in the middle."
"Sounds good." Mara says as she stands to leave.
"No, this is a bad idea." I say.
"Trust me, everything will be fine." Thorn says.
I hesitate but Thorn urges me on, "Go. Now! We don't have much time."
Mara grabs my hand. "Hurry."
We both stand and start to quietly run away, leaving Thorn behind. I see him give us a wave as I lose him among the pillars.
We turn this way and that way, duck under arches and around stone. The table in the center is always within sight, which reassures me slightly. When we are about ninety degrees away from Thorn's position, Mara stops.
"This is where you stay." she says.
"What do I do?" I ask, trying to hide the fear in my voice. I'm losing control of the situation. I'm lost in a strange maze without my allies. I feel like everything is beyond my control.
She steps forward to answer. "Just protect Thorn. That's it. Your knives are accurate enough to hit any tribute from this far."
She turns to leave but stops, "Annie...just, protect him, okay? Don't let anything bad happen to him."
"Of course, he's our ally." I say.
"Yeah, my ally." Mara says with a hint of melancholy. "Keep him safe...for me."
She runs away, leaving me with confusion about their relationship. Does she...like him?
My thoughts are interrupted by a loud grinding sound. Parcels and boxes emerge from the ground around the table in the courtyard. Food, water, medicine, weapons. Everything and anything I could ever need. It's right there for anyone to take.
The feast has begun.
I wait, knife in my hand, for the first tribute to emerge. I crouch behind a stone slab as I anticipate the bloodbath that's sure to follow. My heart is racing. I feel out of place here, with no control over anything. Anything can happen.
But I wait for the first tribute to arrive so I can start the feast. This anxiety is killing me. When the first one appears, I will need to be ready for a fight. This is life or death.
Unknown to me, the first tribute is already right behind me.
"Hello, Annie."
I spin around, knowing who that voice is. I know who is behind me, who is right there, who stealthily stalked my every move. I turn around and see the tribute standing with a bow in hand and an arrow pointed right at my head.
Toren.
Ready for the feast chapter? Hope so! There's going to be a lot of action going on as well as a major character death. What do you think is going to happen? Put your thoughts in a review!