Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
…..
Blight
Salvia's not dealing with Spruce's death too well. After the hovercraft took him away she went back to their hideout and curled up inside the tree and has just been laying there for two days. Johanna and I have sort of been at a loss but we decided to send her a treat, a little cinnamon nut cake that we have on special occasions back in District 7. We can't afford a big one so it's smaller than a large muffin, but maybe it will motivate her to want to come home and get her back on her feet.
The silver parachute drops down to the ground in front of her and she glances at it, her eyes flat and uncaring. She gets up on her knees and reaches for it, opening the silver wrapping and actually smiling a little when she sees the cake. She holds it for a minute, inhaling the scent of the cinnamon and then eats it in two bites. The taste of food must have awakened the hunger within her because she starts digging through the backpacks and comes up with some crackers and dried meat. I'm hoping that this will get her motivated to get up and move around a bit but she just sits back inside her hollow tree and closes her eyes. I wish that she could have seen the interview last night that Cesear Flickerman did with her family. They talked about how much they want her to come home and how worried they all are about the state she's in currently. Maybe that would get her up and going. Some mutt or another tribute's going to find her and she's going to be too weak to fight. Another hour or so passes and I notice that the girl from District 4 is getting pretty close to Salvia. She must be close enough for her to hear because Salvia jumps to her feet and grabs her axe and crouches in a defensive stance. Meranda walks through the bushes and freezes when she see's Salvia standing there, ready to launch an axe at her head. "Throw it!" I think. But she doesn't.
Meranda, who's armed with a bow and two large knives, just stands there, waiting for the blow. When it doesn't come she asks "You gonna throw that or not?" Salvia stares at her and finally lowers the axe.
"No," she says flatly.
"Why not?" Meranda queries.
"I, I just don't want to watch anyone else die. My district partner, Spruce, he, he…."Salvia's voice trails off.
"Yeah, I saw him in the sky. What happened to him?"
"These giant rat things, they came out of the swamp and, and, and, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Salvia just starts screaming and clawing at her face.
"Hey, calm down!" Meranda says rushing to Salvia's side. "Calm down, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry he died, I'm so sorry that you had to see it."
"Why would you care?" Salvia yells at the other girl, "You're a Career, you're trained to kill people! That's all you do!"
Meranda presses her lips together and finally says "No, it's not all I do. Despite what you think we're people too, just kids trying to survive here like you." Salvia just glares.
"Hey, you look thirsty and tired, I have some berry juice that I made, it's good, do you want some?" Something sweet might make you feel better," Meranda says and offers a small canteen to Salvia.
"Don't take it," I think. But she does.
"Thanks," Salvia says to Meranda and takes a long drink. Then her eyes grow wide and she drops to the ground. Boom! Her cannon rings out in the stillness. Meranda takes back the Canteen and tucks Salvia's axe into her belt.
"Guess you shouldn't have trusted a Career," Meranda whispers. "After all, all we do is kill."
I watch the hovercraft come and lift Salvia out of the arena and I wonder if she really thought that a career would offer her something just to be nice? Or did she know that it was poisonous the whole time?