A/N: All of you are awesome. Really. Thank all of you for reviewing, because you don't know how much that means (:
Thank you!!
But now that we've established, once again, that you're all awesome, let's get on with the story!
Ariel's POV (4)
I couldn't care less about what happened to Nikole. Actually, I'm quite relieved. If those gorilla/monkey things hadn't attacked her, then who would they have attacked?
The only thing I regret is not being the one being able to tear her apart. Feel the stretching of her flesh right before it breaks, the sweet smell of blood drifting off of the corpse, and my hands stained with red as the hovercraft comes and lifts her lifeless form up into the sky.
I wake Keith and Alexander up just before the sun rises over the trees. We should get moving. Not only today am I determined to find the Cornucopia, but to kill at least three more tributes myself. I'm sure the Gamemakers will be quenching the Capitol's thirst for bloodshed, though, so a lot of the work will be done for me.
Now, to the Cornucopia.
"I suggest we search the desert," I tell the two tributes, once they've rubbed the sleep from their eyes and are walking around the campground we've made near the edge of the jungle. "We were all there in the first place. Maybe it's hidden somewhere around there."
I want a sword. Oh, I want a sword badly. That would make the killing all the better. But I remain as reserved as I can on the outside, and continue to tell Keith and Alexander exactly what we're going to do today. "We'll search the desert. I don't care how hot it is. Nobody will die, so don't bother being dramatic. Besides, there are cactuses out there that probably have water in them, so bring a stick if you might need some later. Now, let's go."
They follow, but I hear them whispering to each other behind me as we enter the hot sun. I've used a stronger piece of vine to tie my hair back from my face, which I'm sure makes me look as attractive as it is handy, and as I whip around to stare the two of them down my ponytail smacks me in the face. The two of them giggle, but I ignore the immaturity and say, "Are you two going to help me out here, or am I going to be finding the Cornucopia on my own?"
Unfortunately, we don't run into any tributes while going to the desert. Nobody to kill. The sand picks up and swirls around us as we walk deeper, not sure what signs we're looking for, when Keith stops us. "Hey. Remember those hills of sand? What if it's hidden under one of those?"
"How do you suppose we'll get to it?" Alexander asks, inspecting his cuticles.
"What do you think?" Keith rolls his eyes. "We dig."
***
We've been digging through sand mounts for just about ever now. Sand has gotten so far under my nails I'm sure it's deep inside my finger, and my exposed skin is red and hurts whenever the smallest thing with the littlest force touches it. Finally, I stand up and look around, flipping my hair, successfully this time, for the cameras. There are millions of sand mounts. If the Gamemakers had hid the Cornucopia out here, it would take someone days to find it, lessening the blood shed.
"Keith," I growl. "It's not here."
I feel like lunging for his throat, but don't. There are only three of us in this alliance. If one of the other groups finds the Cornucopia, one of the groups with four people, and they have weapons while we don't—well, then we're screwed. So I compose myself and clench my teeth together. "It's not under one of the sand mounts, dumbass. It has to be somewhere else."
"Dumbass?" Keith stands up, wipes sand off his pants. "Call me dumbass one more time, Ariel. One more time."
I lean close enough so he's able to smell my breath. "Dumbass."
He jumps towards me, but I'm quicker and sidestep him. He tumbles onto the ground. Before he even gets back up, though, his fist connects with my face.
Oh, who freaking cares about this freaking alliance.
I lunge, push him back onto the ground, and claw at his throat. Who the fuck does he think he is? Punching me. First the girl from District Eleven—who is going to die a painful death, I can assure you that—and now this little punk from One. Keith shoves me off, and by now the sand under my fingernails is coated with bright red blood. Just as I'm about to finish him off, I feel arms pull me off Keith and throw me onto the sand.
Alexander steps in between Keith and me and says, "If you two don't stop fighting in time to get up and move, we're all going to die."
I'm wondering what he means until I look behind us and see a tall and skinny twister, swerving swiftly through the desert and heading straight for us.
Tiffany's POV (1)
Wandering through this jungle is difficult. I don't need any food, because I've only nibbled on that roll of bread a sponsor sent me, and don't require water at the moment, because I've also received a canteen of water. It's small, maybe about the size of my hand, but I'm making it last as long as I possibly can.
I spent the night up in a tree, quite proud of myself for pushing Bridger into that cactus. I mean, look at how strong he is. He's, like, ten times my size, and I pushed him into a thorny plant and managed to run away from him. There are really no words to describe how much this little incident has increased my confidence of winning the games. Now I feel like, with sponsors, I can do it. I can win.
After early morning passed and I started to get a little hungry and thirsty up in my tree, I hopped down with my canteen in one hand and half a roll of bread in the other, and began to walk around. I don't know what I was looking for. But I felt like I should probably do something.
I think it's the afternoon because the sun is really high in the sky as I enter a clearing, catching my breath. It's some kind of waterfall, but the water is falling into a big hole in the ground. Like a cavern. I can't see the bottom, there's just mist, so I kick at the edge with my foot. A few small pieces of rock fall down the side. I kick again and this time a much bigger piece falls down, this one the size of my head. I start to back up, back into the jungle, but then the ground splits. A crack forms, moving metres at a time in a zig-zagged form, right towards me. Clenching the roll of bread hard in my hand I start to run back, hoping to get away from the crack before it reaches me. If I fall into that cavern, I'm done for. All those sharp rocks on the side and the ones that must be at the bottom—that would be a painful death, a death I'm sure I don't deserve after outwitting Bridger back in the desert. A death I don't deserve after finally, finally, I have some encouragement to keep me going.
But it's too late. The ground opens up too much for me to run away from, and my feet slip into the crack. Dropping the bread and water I scrape at the sides of the walls and try to pull myself up, but even I know it's useless, and so I put my hands over my head and squeeze my eyes tight shut and hope for the best.
Zed's POV (10)
I have to carry Victoria through the jungle, because she can't walk on her right ankle on the uneven ground. We've each received a bit of water from sponsors, but no food, so I've resorted to finding us some edible-looking plants and covering us up with camouflage during the night. And in the morning, we just walk.
"Zed," she says as we continue to drift on and look for more edible plants. Really, there isn't much to do besides this. "Why did you really save me?"
I want to answer her question. I just don't know the answer to it.
So I shrug, and keep my eye out for other tributes. We haven't run into any since the gong went off, and I'm starting to get worried; what if this is part of the Gamemakers' plan? There had been love interests in past Hunger Games, and either neither of them had gotten out alive, or one had just barely.
But the majority of them ended up being the former.
Odyss's POV (5)
Ebony, Ryli and I are on the border of the desert and jungle when we see it—it's in the distance, but it's perfectly clear. A twister, or a tornado, or something, and three small figures sprinting ahead of it and in our direction.
We don't think twice about it, we don't even have to communicate. We run deeper into the jungle, away from the figures and the tornado because, really, those three people could be anyone from Victoria to Ariel to Trafford. And if they'd spotted our little group before we'd spotted them, then we now had two ways of dying chasing after us.
I lag behind Ryli and Ebony a bit as we run, but trying my best to keep up nonetheless. Ebony's faster than I'd thought, I guess she's full of surprises, and Ryli has some of the longest legs I've ever seen and is able to sprint metres ahead of us at a time. The desert is no longer visible through the thick tree trunks, and I doubt the Gamemakers would send the twister roaring through the jungle, but we keep running anyways. Those three small figures linger in my mind. What if they had seen us? And what if they were careers?
"I think we're safe," Ryli pants, coming to a stop and putting her hands on her knees. "Let's rest."
"We have to keep going," I tell her. "We just have to move. We don't have to run."
Nobody even bothers arguing. Ebony and Ryli and I walk through the jungle, over tree roots and crunching through leaves and listening to the squeals of what sounds to be monkeys. I've never been this tired before, but I think of my sisters back home, their faces flashing over and over again behind my eyes, and how they must be watching me right now, telling me to keep going, not to give up yet. I listen to them, these voices and faces darting through my mind, and I even pick up the pace to the point where I'm ahead of both Ryli and Ebony.
"Where are we going?" Ebony asks. She doesn't talk much at all. Mostly just listens to what Ryli and I are saying.
I think about this for a moment. "The other side of the jungle," I inform her. There has to be something behind these trees, right?
"How do you know there's another side?" Ryli is just as out of breath as I am.
I think about this, too. "I don't."
***
We don't stop moving for another hour, which is when we stop to take a quick water break. Each of us sips a small amount from one of the canteens. All of our edible plants are gone, but Ryli promises she'll keep an eye out for some while we walk. Which we end up doing a lot of. Walking, I mean.
"Odyss," Ryli says, ripping some vines out of our path. "I don't think there's anything on the other side of this jungle. I think they just want us to think there is."
I'm about to sigh and admit I was wrong about that, but at least we put distance between us and those three tributes running away from the twister, when Ebony, who has wandered ahead of Ryli and I, lets out a scream.
I run forward out of instinct, like it's my sister who has just let out as much of a scream, pulling more vines out of the way and breaking through the trees and—
Ryli gasps, and the two of us race forward to pull Ebony up off the edge of a cliff. She's not very heavy, so we get her up within seconds. "I slipped," she tells us, but I can hardly hear her. I knew there had to be another setting—another place—in this arena. And I was right.
A vast ocean stretches out before us, waves pounding against the side of the cliff we're now standing on top of. How did we not hear this before?
I wonder for a moment if any other tribute has gotten here before us, but doubt it. I don't think anybody would even think of walking this far into the jungle when they could be safe in the middle of it, or simply just in the desert. We could spend the night down on that sand, probably without fear of elephant stampedes or twisters, and so all three of us begin looking for a way we could make our way down the cliff and onto the thin strip of grey-colored sand that's lining the beach, in one piece.
Ariel's POV
The freaking twister moves pretty freaking fast. I have very long legs, which I like to think are alluring in a way, but even those can't keep much distance between me and the natural disaster. Alexander and Keith are somewhere behind me, but I've given up on them. I need to take care of myself, first.
I look back at the twister. It's not that far away, now, and it's moving faster than I am. I sprint forward, instead of running I take leaps through the desert and over the flying sand. Are all the other tributes getting as much shit from the Gamemakers we've been getting? First those mutant gorillas and now they set loose a twister on us. It's like they're rooting for us all to die.
The time I'm thinking all of this I probably should be concentrating on running faster, because when I turn to look at the twister again, it's closer. So close I feel my ponytail being pulled backwards, the wind tugging harder than the muscles in my legs can handle, and I feel myself slowing down, my feet just barely dragging against the sand. There's nothing to hold on to. If I fly up into it and get spit back out, the sand and cactuses will be the only thing to break my fall.
The wind is too strong and I feel myself being lifted into the air. I scream, and reach out to grab something that isn't there. Just as I'm six feet off the ground, a wrist wraps around my ankle: Alexander. I look down and see Keith's legs wrapped around a cactus, his face scrunched in pain, holding Alexander's arm. Alexander's other arm holds my ankle, and I'm about to yell at him for screaming so loud when I realize the yells ringing in my ears are actually coming from me.
I'm actually afraid, I think. I'm afraid of dying.
But, not letting the Capitol crowd see this, I put my trust into Alexander's wrist and squeeze my mouth and my eyes shut, waiting for it all to stop.
***
It does stop, eventually, and when it does it's so sudden I fall on the sand with a thud, a cracking noise coming from my back and pain shooting through me. I groan, but as I look over at Keith I know the pain I'm going through is nothing compared to his. The inside of his pants are all ripped up from the thorns, and there's puddles of blood surrounding him. Alexander is already tending to him, so I pretend I never saw anything and massage my lower back.
"Ariel," Alexander says, and I look over, widening my eyes at the sight of the blood, as if seeing it for the first time. Keith is lying down on his back, crying out in pain, but Alexander ignores him. "This cactus is poisonous."
