Reviews:
The Ender Pickaxe: It really does. I think I'm over it though. I didn't puke or anything major, but I still felt like I was going to. Thanks!
Annabeth-TheTributeThatLived: Yeah, that was my reaction when he got hit by a car. (he was based on a real dog.) Thanks!
Lya200: Thank you!
meeeeee22: I wish I didn't have to write about anymore deaths. Thank you for pointing that out, it's fixed now. I don't really know if that would've been Tippy; I didn't even think about the possibility while writing. So I guess it's really up to the reader on this one. Thanks!
Gabby Delacour: Not this chapter; but in a few chapters, yes, someone dies. Spoiler alert (although I guess it's a bit late for that.) No; I actually didn't have a beta. Thanks for pointing that out, though, I went back and fixed it, so it should be good. Thanks!
On with the story!
Rose
Nothing important happens that morning. We wake up, eat a little, discuss what to do next, and really just hang out a bit. We decide that our stuff will be safe if we leave it at the cornucopia. Of course, we don't leave anything major there. We just leave a little food, some rope, one of our first aid kits, and some other things that we don't think we'll need right away. We take the rest of our food, our other first aid kit, and our sleeping bags with us. Linda takes most of the food in her pack, I take two of the sleeping bags, and Amor takes the other sleeping bag and the rest of the food. We each carry our own weapons, as well as a canteen.
I know that we can't stay at the cornucopia. If we stay in one place, that makes it harder for us to run into other Tributes. While this is a good thing, that makes the Gamemakers mad. They've pretty much stayed out of the way (except for the earthquake that killed Bambii) but I don't want to take any chances. I remember what they did to Katniss when she got too close to the forcefield in her first Games.
The walk back to the river takes longer than it seemed to yesterday. It's probably because the Gamemakers have decided to make the sun shine unusually brightly on the arena today. The sun beats down on us, making me wonder if they plan to burn us to death. I don't know if it works like that or not, but the Gamemakers can probably do whatever they want. If they want to dump an entire gallon of water onto a frozen wasteland and make it not freeze, they can.
To pass the time, we begin trying to find a game we can play. I Spy doesn't work; the only things in sight are grass, the sky, and trees. No clouds, either, which makes the sun seem that much brighter. We try thinking of other things to play, but that's pretty much it that we know of. To pass the time in the Capitol, we'd just start playing Hunger Games, or maybe get on an electronic device of some sort. None of us are really used to this.
When we finally get back to the river, the first thing we do is get a long drink of the water and fill up our canteens. The water, which felt salty yesterday, now feels fresher than ever. I dig around in my backpack, pushing the two backpacks away to find my canteen. I finally do, and I fill it to where it's completely full. I take a drink out of it, before filling it up the rest of the way again.
The second thing we do is notice is that the mutts have left. Probably going off and finding other people to sabotage. Just to be safe, we stay on the side of the river that we're already on. All of the remaining Tributes will probably be hanging around the river as well, unless there's another water source somewhere. Still, we should probably find a place to stay before we run across any other Tributes. I don't want to have to fight, not in this weather.
After walking for a long time, we see that the river begins getting wider. In the middle of the stream, I see a small island. Linda points it out, and Amor says that he sees it, too. We decide to go check it out. As soon as we get onto the island, a swarm of bats flies over our heads. Linda shrieks, dropping her bag and ducking behind a tree. Her bag goes tumbling into the water, never to be seen again. Well, there goes most of our food.
"Linda, what's wrong?" I ask.
"N… nothing," she mumbles, tightening her ponytail.
"When someone says 'nothing,' then it means something. It's like opposite day," I add. "You're not afraid of bats, are you?"
"No. I just thought that they were only awake at night," she explains passively. I don't believe her, but I let it go.
"I thought so, too," Amor says. "But this is the arena. Anything's possible."
"Yeah, I guess so," Linda says with a shrug.
We explore the island, finding it completely uninhabited. No Tributes, no food, no muttations. Just us and trees, and that's about it. A cannon booms, and our heads snap up to make sure it wasn't any of us. Another cannon sounds, making us slightly scared. A few seconds later, a third cannon booms, making me feel as if I'm going deaf. Well, that's it. We're the only alliance left in this arena.
"So," I say, clearing my throat. "We're in the final four."
"Yeah, I guess we are," Linda says, completely recovered from the bat incident.
"So… what do we do now?" Amor asks.
"You know… I have no idea."
"Well, I think that we should try to find Atlas," Linda says, flicking some hair out of her face.
"How do you know it's Atlas?" I ask.
"I just have a hunch, that's all. It makes sense, after all. Unless the trio was fighting him, he killed two of them, and then the other one killed him. But that would be unlikely," she adds.
"Yeah," I say. "They probably died all together."
That night, we watch anxiously to see who we're up against. Finally, after we wait for what feels like forever but couldn't possibly be more than a few minutes, Contire's face appears in the sky. I take a moment to remember how nice she was in the bloodbath. She chose not to kill me, instead saving her friend. That was a winning situation for both of us. I'll never be able to thank her enough.
Bonus's face appears next, followed by Pomeline's. I remember that those were Contire's best friends. I guess that they're kind of like us. They stick together, no matter what. Either way, Linda was right; that leaves us with Atlas. Well, this isn't going to be easy, but I know that one of us can win this thing.
After all, for once, the odds are in our favor.
Next estimated update: February 11, 2015
Just a little call-out that if I don't update on the 11th, then I probably won't update on the 12th. I definitely won't be updating on the 13th or the 14th. It'll be either the 15th or the 16th until I update again in that case. I would try to update some other time, but I'm not entirely sure that I'll have Wi-Fi at D-Now, and even if I do, I may not have my iPod or my Kindle with me. And that would stink.
Eternity is a long time; whether it will be joyful or distressing is entirely up to you.
~Dawn101907