Chapter 36. Light

Far from the Cornucopia, the groups were finally able to gauge their surroundings. For being an Arena for the Games, this year they had decided to make water a major factor as swamp like areas covered a majority of the land. Even the grass Gale's group walked on now was damp and squished under their feet. He noted that any sort of sneak attacks on ground like this was useless. How he wished he had that rope now.

Gale continued to walk on, carrying Sage in his big-brother like protective manner. The horn was far from their view now, but the fear he felt being near was still very real. He tried his hardest to hold in his fear to prevent himself from shaking, not wanting to worry Sage any more than the child already was. Sage had calmed down enough to lift his head from Gale's shoulder, but he continued to grip Gale's shirt tightly in his small hands. His eyes were red from crying since clearly a boy of five wouldn't be used to the bloodbath that was the Cornucopia.

Willow led the pack silently, holding the blood soaked spear she pulled from her arm over her shoulder. She had tore off her shirt sleeve and wrapped it tightly around the wound in her arm. The blood had quickly soaked through, but she refused to take notice of it. Sisal, however, did notice. "Willow, your arm hasn't stopped the entire hour we've walked."

Willow merely shrugged, tossing Sisal one of the five backpacks she had accumulated that were lining her good arm. "It doesn't hurt. Find something for the kid to eat, he looks like he's going to faint."

Sisal caught it and began to look through its contents. She found a can of beans but had nothing to open it with, an empty vial for holding water, a loaf of bread, a sleeping bag, and a flashlight. She pulled out the bread and handed it to Sage and Gale, but then turned back towards Willow. "If you lose too much blood, you'll get groggy, slower, and weaker..."

"Impossible. I don't get weak. We have to reach the river." Willow replied, shifting the spear onto her other shoulder. Sage eyed the end of the bloody spear with wide eyes, ripping off a piece of the bread in Gale's hands and chewing on it.

"You're not invincible," Sisal muttered as she put the backpack on her own back, but her eyes were shifting around the Arena, searching. "And how do we even know there is a river? What if it's a trap?"

"It's not," Willow replied simply, ignoring Sisal's previous comment.

"How can you be so sure?"

From behind her, Gale immediately slapped his hand over her mouth. "Stop. You're being too noisy."

Willow stopped suddenly, glancing around at the trees for a moment, before turning to address the three of them, but mainly Sisal, lowering her voice. "Listen. Don't argue with me unless you want someone to hear you and come and kill you. I'm not your damn body guard and I'm not going to risk my life to save yours. Got it? We've got a plan and we've got to meet up with the other Tributes north at the river. If you've got a problem with it, no one's forcing you to stay."

Sisal pulled Gale's hand from her mouth, her eyes narrowing back. "I didn't ask to be a part of this alliance. I only have one goal in this Arena and that's to kill Leaf, which Madge told me this alliance would help with."

Willow stared at Sisal for a few moments, stony faced. "We can help you with that, and we will, if he crosses our path. However, you will fail alone."

Sisal just bit her bottom lip, getting sick of people telling her that. But she kept her mouth shut and just turned her head away, spotting some very large and long blades of grass. She reached down, stuffing two handfuls into the backpack before starting to walk again without a word. As she walked, she pulled out the blades and began to weave them to calm herself. Willow looked at Gale and Sage for a moment before following Sisal, murmuring something that sounded like "crazy".

While Gale agreed with Willow on most of her points, he couldn't help but feel bad for Sisal. If he had been closer to her, or if Leaf had done anything like that to the women close to him, he knew he would act just as recklessly as Sisal was.

As he thought about this, his mind raced back to the train when he fought with Savage and Pearl and how Katniss was hurt because of it. He remembered the anger and pure rage he felt towards the District 1 Careers. He also wondered if Savage was even still alive. Willow, however, didn't care about petty emotions. As far as she was concerned, they were all fighting for their lives and she wasn't selfish to be concerned with herself first. While she was sure Sisal was feeling vast amounts of pain, that was just weakness that could be used against all of them. In her opinion, Sisal would be weeded off soon if she didn't get her emotions under control.

Willow quietly dug through one of her many backpacks and held out the pile of rope she had taken off of Savage toward Gale's free arm that wasn't holding Sage. "I saw you eyeing this."

Gale blinked himself out of his thoughts before looking down at the rope. For the first time since entering the Arena, he smiled widely before taking the ropes. "You're the best, Willow."

Willow smiled slightly and even that looked strange on her permanently serious face. "I figured it must have been important if both you and Savage were after it."

"I don't know why he would want it, but I know things just got a little easier for us now," he laughed before slinging the rope around his shoulder. His confidence was coming back as he began to run through all the various snares and traps he should set once they make camp.

Willow silently led Sage, Gale, and Sisal north for what seemed like forever until they reached a river. Not much open space was to be found except right at the coast of the river bed itself. The trees were thick and close together, congregated in a way that made them perfect for hiding out in as well as setting traps up around, Gale noted to himself. Thick vines swayed back and forth in the breeze from the countless branches, causing Sisal to jump every time she saw one from her peripheral, thinking it might be an enemy.

Willow slightly raised her eyebrow, realizing that Joule knew what she was talking about. She held her bloody arm out so the three stopped behind her, still in the trees, not wanting to walk out until she was sure Joule, Amur, and Madge were there. As the group stood still, a metal discus dropped itself from above them, landing inches away from Willow's feet. Willow didn't jump when the discus fell. However, she did bend down and pick it up before turning and looking above them.

Gale had to immediately hide Sage's face and slap his hand again on Sisal's mouth to prevent either of them from shrieking at the sight. High in the tree, Joule sat on a branch, her face and arms beginning to turn purple as, around her, a large boa constrictor was slowly squeezing its body more and more around her. Her good eye was closed as she tried to keep her body relaxed, knowing that causing her body to tense any further would only help the creature's goal become reality faster.

Willow's eyes widened a fraction before she quickly grabbed hold of one of the thick vines swinging around them, holding her knife between her teeth. She climbed it quickly with her impressive speed and hopped onto the branch gracefully and brought her knife down toward the distracted boa, slicing it in half.

As the snake fell from Joule's body, she only took a minute to gasp for air before grabbing Willow and pulling her into an uncharacteristic hug. Before the District 4 Tribute could even think of reacting, Joule jumped from the tree as three more snakes dove for the two of them.

"Sisal!" Gale only had time to say before pushing Sage into her arms. He then turned and ran for the falling Joule and Willow, getting there just in time to catch the two. The force caused him to fall to the ground, but no serious damage was done to any of them. Willow quickly disentangled herself from Gale and Joule on the ground. She scrambled across the earth over to her fallen backpacks, breathing hard, a look of fear all over her usual blank face.

After Willow was off him, Gale got up quickly, carrying Joule. The one eyed tribute was still panting and discolored, unable to function properly. His eyes raced towards the branch where now five snakes lurked, each eyeing the Tributes below. Able to see them more clearly now and without distraction, Gale noticed as one hissed that orange fluid practically flooded from their fangs and their eyes matched the same hue of orange. Mutts.

Willow got shakily to her feet, the color draining from her tanned face at the sight of all the snakes, clearly a serious fear for her. Hands shaking, she secured the grip of her knife in one hand and the spear in her other. "Run!"

"They're mutts, you can't fight these off alone!" Gale yelled as he quickly shifted Joule to one arm and tried to pull Willow away as he went to run.

Willow, despite having a need to appear fearless and invincible, lowered her spear, staring at the snakes. She nodded slightly, tightened her hand around Gale's and took off running in the opposite direction. Their sudden movements only caused the snakes to direct all their attention at the group. Darting from tree to tree above them, the five serpents hissed in pursuit of the group. Gale did his best to keep up to Willow and Sisal, but the added weight of the 19 year old Joule in his arm slowed him down to a much slower speed than he was capable of.

"T-they... are close..." Joule choked before actually beginning to cough almost violently into Gale's shoulder. Even though her voice was forced, the tone of her voice and how it wasn't panicked signaled she wasn't speaking about the snakes.

Willow growled, realizing she was being slowed down. She held the four backpacks, two on each of her shoulders, and quickly threw her spear at one of the snakes, sending it down the snake's open mouth and into it's throat. She smirked in victory as it fell from the tree and then turned slightly to address Joule. "Amur and Madge? Where did you leave them?"

Joule turned her head up as she coughed to check her surroundings. "T-twenty meters... w-wire trap..."

Gale's eyes almost lit up at Joule's information. His mind raced over everything for a moment before turning to Sisal. "Sisal! Sage! One of you toss me the flashlight from your backpack! Willow, I'm going to need you to take Joule."

Willow glanced back at him for a moment but didn't question him. She grabbed Joule quickly from Gale's arms and, despite her small size, lurched the larger girl upwards onto her back. Sage quickly rifled through the backpack and shoved the flashlight toward Gale. The hunter took the flashlight before pointing east for Willow and Sisal as he turned on the light. "Go off and meet up with me where Amur and Madge are in a half hour! I'll take care of the snakes!"

Before they could even answer back, Gale stopped his run entirely and turned towards the serpents in the trees, flashing the light towards each as he tried to distract their attention from the group. Willow hiked Joule up higher on her back and tossed her knife at Gale's feet, just in case he needed it. She then grabbed Sisal's hand and took off in the direction Gale pointed, not looking back at the most horrifying creatures she had ever seen.

Meanwhile, back in the Capitol, Katniss had abandoned holding the tag of Gale's necklace and, instead, grasped the edges of the table, her face bright red in worry as she stared at his on the screen. "Run, you idiot!"

Peeta, who was sitting next to her, looked away from the screen with Madge and Amur camping high in the trees and looked toward Gale's television. He bit his lip a little as the snake mutts all turned at Gale and the chase began, the hunter only having enough time to grab the knife before running. "I'm sure he has a plan..."

Katniss only covered her eyes, unable to look at the screen anymore. "He's just being a stupid hero."

"Katniss..."

Back in the Arena, Gale darted in the direction Joule said Amur and Madge were. The snakes continued to dart after him, even though the beam of light from his flashlight bounced wildly in front of him. His heart was pounding so loudly in his ears he could hardly hear the hissing over his shoulder, but he still remained focused. He had to survive this or he knew his death would be slow and painful.

When he finally saw the shine of the wire trap Joule set up, he almost smiled. The light from the device in his hand illuminated the area between two trees, which had the girl's wire strung between them tightly enough to be invisible in the shadows of the trees. He ran until he was almost touching it before turning back to the snakes.

Almost like on cue, the serpents dove in a group at him, fangs out and aimed for his throat. Gale wasted no time as he jumped out of the way and onto the ground. The tightened wire shredded the snakes almost instantly, turning the power of their thrusts into it against them.

Katniss froze at the silence and she slowly peeked at the screen from between her fingers and then dropped her hands in amazement. She fell quiet as a slow smile spread across her face, realizing again something she had forgotten: Gale was more than capable of taking care of himself and everyone around him.