I told you chapter twenty eight was coming soon! I'm in a writing sort of mood, so I think I might just write a few more chapters and space them out a little so you guys don't have to catch up as much. I always want to do that, but I never have time, I'm a busy person! I have school, gymnastics and figure skating every single week.

Being ill is a good excuse to miss out all of those things and just write, it's turning out to be pretty enjoyable actually!

This chapter should have lots of action, I love writing chapters like this...

Hopefully, you won't have to wait very long for further chapters.

So, lets get on with it then!

Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty Eight - Encounter

"Goodnight Hunter." I whisper as I take her place as guard. She's probably already asleep, I can't really tell. It's so dark out here, not even the starlight is getting through to the jungle floor.

I'm still clinging on to the tree for dear life, I hate how slippery and wet the bark is. I can't hold onto it properly, and i feel like the branch is going to snap every time I try to move. The whole tree sways in the strong winds. It makes me feel unsafe. I'm not exactly safe, but I don't like to be reminded by my mind screaming,

"Phee, get down from here. It's not safe, imagine if you fell..."

Every few seconds. I annoy myself sometimes. In fact, sometimes is an understatement. I annoy myself. Period.

I can't see much in the darkness. My eyes are well adjusted to darkness due to the lack of electricity back at home, but here, all I can see are slight outlines of shapes, and even then I don't know if my mind is playing tricks on me or not.

This is the first night in the arena that I haven't been able to see the stars. They must be obscured by the thick clouds.

It is still raining heavily. I guess the rain must be a source for those who don't have a purifying kit. I doubt anyone would drink the floodwater, even if I was desperate I wouldn't drink that. It looks so murky and thick, almost like mud. There is always a layer of silt sitting on the top of it, or leaves floating around.

The caves must really be flooded if there are enterances from the ground like Ryan says there is.

I try not to think about the people that were down there. They must be dead.

I'm partly glad that it's raining, I think the silence would have been too eerie if it wasn't.

My eyelids are heavy, but I manage to stay awake. Just.

Yet again, I feel like we are utterly isolated. I can't imagine someone jumping out of the trees, ambushing us.

That gets me wondering how many people are left.

I think they announce the feast when there are eight tributes left, I'm not exactly sure, but I think it is eight. So there are more people left than that.

I know multiple teams have already been taken out...

Without the show every night, it's hard to tell who has died and who is still alive.

What matters is that Ryan, Hunter and Raven are still alive.

Right, that's the priority. That's all I have to think about right now.

I haven't heard any cannons recently but there were probably some, masked by the thunder and lightening earlier. I think it's stopped now though, so if any do go off, we will hear them.

A few hours pass, or at least, that's what it seems like, the water below me begins to dim down, it no longer glows that strange, fluorescent blue.

It's time to wake everyone up and get going. We need to use up all of the time that we can, not wasting a single second.

I am slightly dreading doing back into the water, as the skin on my feet has begun to peel off in a pretty disgusting way. We were in the water for too long.

Our feet are probably at risk of infection, but its a risk we have to take. Even with our boots on, our feet were being soaked, scratched and torn.

I swing one leg over one side of the branch, the doing the same for the other side. I slowly shuffle my way along and let go of the branch for as long as I dare to give Ryan and Hunter a shake, which isn't very long. I end up almost losing my balance, grabbing back onto the branch which sways dangerously underneath me, scaring me with creaking noises.

Once I'm sure they are awake, I begin to whisper.

"Guys, we need to get going, the water's safe now."

"Alright, alright. Slow down, wait a second while I untie myself." laughs Hunter, untying the rope that sits around her hips. Ryan does the same, but I don't want to. I feel like the rope is the only thing that's keeping me from falling.

Eventually, they manage to untie the rope for me, and we begin our slow descent from the tree. This was the bit I enjoyed most, as I got to get down from that tree.

"I swear, if I ever have to climb one of those again..." I mumble as I step over tree roots, making sure I don't fall over. I would not like to fall face first into that water.

"Hey, you made me dive off of a cliff. We're even now." laughs Hunter, rubbing her eyes as we begin to walk again.

"Which way are we going Ryan? " I ask as he looks around. He points ahead of us, suddenly decisive.

"This way." he says

"Are you sure?" I smile

"Yeah. I'm sure." he says, a little more confidently.

So, we get going. For a while, the floods are deeper than they were before, and we struggle to walk through them, but they get shallower again.

I'm sure I have at least eight leeches on my legs, usually, I would pull them off and throw them away in disgust, but I try to follow Ryan's advice, and set an example for Hunter.

The trees seem to be getting thicker now, and the water barely covers my feet. Then, up ahead, I see dry land.

"Ryan, Hunter, look!" I smile, running towards the raised area, leaving the nightmare of the floods behind me.

They follow me, and we all let out a sigh of relief as we step onto the ground, water dripping off of our feet. There are no floods ahead that we can see.

I take off my boots and tip them upside - down, a surprising amount of water and mud comes dribbling out of them.

I pull a face as a puddle begins to form below them, I walked in that?

I have to put my boots back on though, beacuse being in the water for so long has made my feet sore and sensitive. The slightest touch from a thorn would be agonising.

Once we have all sorted ourselves out, I turn to Ryan.

"So," I ask, "Which way now?"

"We'll stay on the slightly higher land, but follow the low land. We should be at the creeks within a matter of days if we are fast enough." he smiles confidently, taking a sip from his water bottle.

"You have this very well planned out Ryan." says Hunter."But how do you know we'll end up in the right place?"

"Well, I've seen most of the arena from the tops of trees, I have a good memory, and I have a pretty high tech compass. Trust me." he laughs.

"I don't trust people easily. I'll only trust your sense of direction when we get there." she chuckles.

He sighs and shakes his head.

"Come on guys. We can argue about sense of direction later. Which way were we going again?" I manage to focus again.

We've not come across any more floods so far, even though it is still raining, which is something I can smile about.

We weave our way in and out of the thich undergrowth, surrounded by plants I've never seen before in my life. Fallen trees block our path more often, I guess the wind hit this area harder, it would make sense since we are higher up now.

We are still sheltered from the rain thanks to the canopy above us, which I'm pretty glad about. I've had enough of the rainwater for now.

Walking all day is hard work, but we manage to, only stopping to figure out where we are and eat. I'm pretty satisfied with how much progress we have made. The beach seems like it is a million miles away now.

We find a spot to spend the night at, and sit down, giving our tired bodies a well deserved rest. We will be setting off again tomorrow, so I decide I am going to savor the time I have, just sitting, relaxing as much as I can...

Right now, it's probably not the best idea to light a fire, nobody else could see it, but it would probably set the whole forest alight considering how many branches are lying around. We have to save our matches anyway, they are scarce.

We don't talk, we just sit, staring, thinking.

That means, every noise is magnified.

All I am expecting to hear is the noise of the rain hitting the leaves above us, but I'm sure I hear a quiet whispering.

I freeze, and listen, cupping my hand to my ear, making the others aware.

There it is again.

I turn to Ryan and Hunter, as if to ask,

Did you guys hear that too?

Ryan nods, hardly noticeably.

My hand twitches and I grab onto the handle of my knife. There's someone here, and I'm pretty sure they're not friendly.

I listen again, carefully, making sure we're not hearing things. It could just be rustling leaves or something.

But I hear it again, and figure out where it's coming from.

Just to my left, in the dim light, I am able to make out two shapes in the undergrowth. I signal to Ryan and Hunter.

I know exactly what I'm going to do.

I shuffle around the tree I have been leaning on, gesturing for Ryan and Hunter to follow my, my heart is racing, I can hear it in my ears.

I give myself a countdown,

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One.

I leap onto my feet, grasping my knife and pulling the bushes and plants aside, to reveal two male tributes. I don't recognise them. Even if I'd noticed them before, I never would have recognised them now. They are covered in what I assume to be camouflage paint, and are very skinny and scruffy.

Is that what I look like?

"Ah, James and..Kev, right?." asks Ryan.

They're from Pike's District. Yes. I know exactly what I'm going to do.

Ryan grabs one of them, and I grab the other, pulling them with surprising ease out into out tiny clearing, and pinning them down onto the mud soaked ground.

They try and fight us off, but once they see our weapons, they stop.

"Hunter, get the ropes!" I yell.

She shoots me a puzzled look, but reaches into the bags all the same and throws me the two ropes. I pass one to Ryan, who seems to know what my plan is.

I pick Kev up and shove him against a nearby tree, before grabbing his wrists and binding them together behind him, securing him to it.

Hunter seems to get the idea now, and goes to help Ryan with James, who is struggling a little more.

"Let me go!" he yells, before swearing under his breath as Hunter tightens the knot.

"James." I smile, walking towards him. Hunter keeps an eye on Kev. "You seem to be the leader of this little duo. Of course," I sigh, wiping my knife on my sleeve slowly, "I would have killed you as soon as I knew you were there, but then I realised, you were friends with a boy named Pike."

I am face to face with him now.

"You must realise that you are going to die anyway, so you might as well give me this information." I say, looking into his panicked eyes, he starts to yell again.

Anything to save Raven.

I slap him hard across the face, and he shuts his mouth, then stare at him again, not a single emotion on my face. I catch sight of Ryan smirking. He must be at least a foot taller than me.

"What do you want to know." he says, panicked.

"I want to know where my sister is." I say.

He shakes his head.

"I can't tell you that." he says determinedly.

"Too bad. I'll have to make your death slow then." I smile evilly, examining my knives and picking out the scariest looking one, pressing the tip of it to his throat, where I can see sweat glistening.

"Tell me where she is."

So, that was chapter twenty eight! I can't resist starting chapter twenty nine, I guess I sort of left it at a cliffhanger there, sorry about that!

New chapter should be coming soon, maybe even tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Keep the reviews coming too, they let me know what I'm doing right and wrong, keep me inspired, but most of all, I love hearing from my readers! It's nice to know there's actually people behind those view counts.

Thank you, as always for reading

BethanyDee xx