The First Annual Hunger Games 25
Maple, District Six
I can't believe Sync. He couldn't have just done that. He is my big brother, and I know him better than anyone else in the world. So he could not have just done that.
But reality tells me that, "Oh my gosh, he actually just did that!"
The District 7 boy drops to the ground on his hands and knees, the blood wound in his back looking somewhat deep. I reach forward instantly, wanting to tend him, to heal him. But reality jerks me right back, telling me I can't do that. One less tribute means one less threat to worry about….which slightly increases our chances of living another day in these Games.
"Sync…" I can barely speak his name, a haze of shock and fear settling over my thoughts, making things seem to slow down around me.
He grabs my arm, yanking me along as fast as my stiff legs are. To know he could just could have killed a human on purpose….even the thought makes me feel sick, dizzy, confused. I do not know what to do anymore, so I am simply dragged into the forest, deeper and deeper.
For the first time in my life, I am afraid of my big brother.
When he finally stops, he has to pick me up in order to sit me on the ground against a tree. I pull my knees to my chest, hiding my face and choking out a small sob. The District 7 boy must still be alive, since I haven't heard a cannon fire. Then again….I've been in a heavy daze most of this time, so I might have missed it if it did fire.
When I look up again through my tears, it only shakes me up more to see Sync acting like it didn't bother him he was a possible murderer. His eyes were steady, no signs of crying in them whatsoever. He looked hard as a rock, like he couldn't care less. He was staring at me, not looking amused, still gripping his knife.
"What is wrong with you?" I practically shout, and he instantly slaps his hand over my mouth forcefully.
"Hush!" he hisses lowly in my ear, "you don't want to show everyone where we are, stupid!"
"Stupid?!" I bark right back, biting his hand to let him to move his hand, "you just killed another human being and you don't give a crap, and you're calling ME stupid?!"
"I had too, Maple," he is suddenly in my face, eyes finally not calm and down flickering with angry fire, "it's either kill or be killed here. And you don't want to be killed, do you? Didn't think so."
"I'd rather die than watch someone else do it," I snap, pushing him back with strength I didn't know I had, making him crash onto his back.
Before he can do anything else or I can yell some more, something silver glints among the dark green tree leaves right above us. I watch, body rigid with anticipation and curiousness as it lands right in my open hands. Sync sits up with a jerk, and both of us stare at the tan little bag in my palms, a small silver parachute hanging down, tying it closed.
"Do we….open it?" our argument isn't important right now….I have a feeling this bag has something we need in it.
He grabs it from me, opening it slowly, cautiously, holding it as far as his arms will allow from both of us. A piece of paper falls out as soon as he shakes it, holding it upside down, and he catches the other item that comes out.
A cracker.
One small, seemingly pointless cracker. He looks confused and somewhat angry until I read the note outloud.
Maple and Sync, you two have to come home. We all miss you a lot…the adults are being even more bitter since you guys left. We're sorry this was all we could afford…but please eat it. We'll do better next time we send a parachute, we promise. We all love you both
~Kate
Kate. My older 'sister' who'd tried to volunteer to be here right now in the first place. No doubt she would've made it this far in her condition…but she was still helping best she could with the orphan children. And though the cracker was small and was only making we two all that more hungry…it was kind of a symbol of hope for me.
"One cracker?" Sync scowled a bit, and I kicked him sharply in the ankle.
"Do you want it or not?" I snip as I break it in half, and as we two nibble it, trying to make it last, there is sudden feeling of hope deep in my gut.
And I think he feels that same feeling in his own gut as well.
Valerina. District Seven
I am woken by the sound of a twig snapping. Ever since the Games began, I'd be much more alert and on-edge, even more than when my dad was around the house. I turn over, staring into the trees and squinting to see anything. LeShay was still fast asleep beside me, but my concern was not waking her up as I shifted to my knees, gripping an arrow I'd found the previous night. It was only one, but still….
That's when I see some tan skin peeping through two leaves. I squint harder, straining my eyes as I get to my feet slowly. Another tribute? I would have to act fast, or mine and Shay's cannon would fire in no time.
"Don't stab me," his voice whispered just as I was bringing the arrow to swinging position, but I jabbed down without a moment's hesitation.
As much as I don't want Emmi and Eve watching me kill another, having them watch me be killed would be worse.
But a skinny arm suddenly stops it, seemingly coming from nowhere. I just catch a glimpse of the blonde hanging from the tree limb by her ankles before a hand strikes me hard across the cheek, making me stumble and then fall to where I'd been sleeping before on my back. LeShay jolts awake, eyes wide with my own as we watch the young girl land on her hands, bending her back so she can get to her feet easily. Her partner, the one who I always speared with my arrow, comes out from the brush where he was hiding before.
"Who are you?" the young blonde whispers sharply, and I then realize she has a blade you catch flip open in her hand.
"What's it you?" I shoot back, gripping my arrow tighter and trying to seem braver than I really was. She was younger than me by at least three years…she wouldn't beat me.
I wouldn't let her.
"Oh, an arrow," she spoke sarcastically, "I'm so scared."
And suddenly she on top of me, holding me at blade point. I hadn't riser in time, and her partner had LeShay pinned against a tree as well. I am about to cry out and start fighting her, but she slaps an arrow over my mouth before I can, jamming her knee into my legs to keep them still. I follow her eyes before I attempt to bite her hand off…then see why they were constraining we two from crying out.
The District One girl was looking right at us.
I freeze and lock my body instantly. I don't know whether or not if she can see us or not, but either way, I am scared beyond the point to do anything. She was deadly and I'd seen that with that poor District 5 girl….Alyssa. Poor girl…and if I was her next victim, I would be struggling to scream out for my two little sisters to not watch.
It was pure luck that she turned away and started eating out of the seemingly endless pile of supplies her alliance had. My stomach moans softly, but that is forgotten as soon as the girl points up to the trees and climbe among the branches herself easily.
I am seriously regretting not training on the climbing course in the training center now.
I am making way too much noise when I should be making none at all, and my heart is slamming against my ribs so forcefully, I'm almost positive I cracked every one of them. Trace and Shay are traveling by ground, which I feel might be safer for me, and they make about as much as noise as the District 11 girl, which is none.
How did they do that?
Somehow, by some miracle, we have all made it past the bloodthirsty killer pack. I brilliantly fall from the tree, landing heavily on my shoulder and almost on top of Shay. Moaning with my bones, I get back to my feet as fast as I can. I listen to my instincts for once: Any tribute who's as crafty and clever as the District 11 girl can't be trusted.
It might make the difference between life and death for me in the end.
Then again….if I can't trust this tribute, how do I know I can trust LeShay? She is nice and all, and my instincts keep my on guard, but not so much. I honestly don't believe she can harm a fly…but at the same time….could she? Emmi and Eve are the only reason I'm alive, but at the same time….
She has a baby to take care of back in District 9.
"So….what were you doing around the Cornocopia pack?" her apparent ally and district partner asks we two, and I bite my lower lip.
"What were you doing there?" I shoot back, and suddenly, she has pinned me to a tree once more, my arrow long lost somewhere in the trees.
"Don't turn this on me," she snips, her eyes flashing dangerously, and I am terrified until I realize: I am bigger than her.
I shove her off almost easily, given to the fact we're both probably severely underweight. She falls to her rear end hard, not expecting me to actually fight back. I grab for her knife and get the hilt, but she is ready this time and kicks me sharply in the gut. She is apparently stronger than I imagined, because I am flipped forward, over her head, since she is still on her back. I grunt as my head hits the hard dirt, trying to get back up but finding a giant hand over my neck.
"Oh…" I groan at Trace, my eyes flickering to LeShay, who looks totally shocked…and afraid.
"Valerina," she squeaks out softly, and I can tell she is fearing for both of our lies in a split second…again.
"What do you think you're doing?" the younger girl snips, and I feel the cool blade of her knife touch my throat. I close my eyes, a tear splattering my cheek as I realize these are my last breaths.
"Emmi….Eve….I love you…." Another tear splatters on my other cheek, which I am sure is ghostly pale.
"Emmi? Eve?" she repeats my two little sisters' names, and I see her waver for just a moment, "who are they?"
"What's….what's it you?" I try to sound tougher than I am and feel, but Shay is desperate for we both to live another day,
"Her little sisters," she blurts out loudly enough for any tribute within a ten-mile radius to hear, and the girl wavers once more. I see something flash in her gray eyes….rememberance.
"I see…" and suddenly the blade is away from my neck, and she's offering me her small, thin hand, "My name's Airmet. And if we're not going to be each other's killers….we might as well be allies."
Shimmer, District One
Our new 'ally' was annoying. She was very annoying.
She was obviously nuts, and she stayed pressed up against Leon's side. It wouldn't long before he sliced her throat open…if I didn't do it first. She would stare straight ahead or at me, and she'd mutter stuff under her breathe, something about her grandma or how she loved Leon, some stupid stuff like that. I am gripping my blade in anticipation, and I know he's doing the same thing.
I need some bloodshed right now.
But I don't feel like killing my fellow district tribute just yet. I'll lead him into a false sense of security, which will take time, but we've got all the time in the world in this glorious arena. But as soon as he trusts me, I'll stab him in the back….in more ways than just a figure of speech. I would kill the District 3 tributes, but they don't seem like they'll be enough to satisfy my urge of bloodshed. They would be way too easy, anyway.
So I decide to go find the District 7 boy and kill him off. He was big…and he was also one of my allies, so I know he'll be enough. But I also know I'll win this battle, despite his size and strength. I am a killer, and he obviously is not.
I walk away quickly and quietly from the two pairs of 'lovers', holding my two precious knives. This will be fun….
Aaden, District Three
Genevieve and I watch silently, probably unnoticed by her, as Shimmer walks away with her knives in grip. When we two lock eyes after she's gone, there is doubt within either of us that she is out for kill for who knows why. I sigh outloud and lay back, even though the concrete is hot from the fake sun, hard, and basically uncomfortable. I just want this to be over….I wish she would hurry up and kill me so Genevieve could go home.
"Aaden….I don't really want to go home," she says quietly, and I am instantly shocked into anger.
"What?!" I snap more angrily than intended to, and she lowers her gaze to the ground instantly.
"I can't live like this," her voice is soft now, trying not to cross me more than she knows she already has, "having the dead tributes around me…they're going to haunt me forever…."
"But you didn't kill anyone!" neither have I, and I don't plan on doing so, but still….she makes a big deal over stuff that can't be helped.
I don't mention I'll die for her so she goes home, no matter what. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of that…but when we lock eyes again, I know she already knows.
Annalisa, District 2
I couldn't do it, which makes me weak. I could not kill Sontal, my ally, which is bad. He'll end up killing me at this rate…but I couldn't bring myself to cut his throat open while he was sleeping. He almost looked cute, and there was some weird feeling in my chest now.
It felt warm and tingly when I saw him, like where my heart is, and I am more than likely going to pay for it down the road.
"Ann…Annalisa?" his voice pipes up beside me as the sun starts to sink, closing the day I spent hunting while he looked for plants to eat, "why aren't you eating?"
I shrug, then catch a glimpse of what kind of plant he picked is, "Sontal! That's poisoned!"
I grab the leaves from grasp, throwing them in the ground and grounding them down with my boot. He gulps, going pale with his pink cheeks sticking out awkwardly as he scoots away from me. I've scared him with my knowledge, and I'm almost positive he's already eaten some of it.
Idiots aren't useful in the Hunger Games, but still….sheesh, I couldn't ignore the warm, tingly feeling breaking in my chest as I realized he probably make it through the night.
Jack, District 9
I'd been through the fire since these Games started, alright. I was starving as usual, I'd nearly been frozen to death by that ice rain, and I'd been shivering in a cave for the past four days. Today I tried to catch a squirrel with my bare hands, (even though I can barely feel them,) and only ended up getting a clawed up face and even more hungry.
Something inside of me told me I was going to die as I stumbled through the forest, desperate for any bit of food or water I could grab.
Then I saw her. Caramel hair, big brown eyes, pale skin that made her look deathly beautiful. The same something inside me that told me I was as good as dead told me she was too, but still…she was hot! She looked about twelve, but who cares about age difference?
I was just about to kiss her light blue lips as she slept when I saw him.