Chapter 34- Astrid Clearwater
Tilling shakes next to me, but I'm still as a rock. If we give ourselves away, we're dead, all three of us. The two tributes that just arrived are rustling around in the bushes a few feet away from where Elowyn, Tilling, and I are lying concealed under our tarp. Our new friends haven't seen us yet, since it's dark, but they'll see us when the sun starts coming up. What time is it now? After midnight for sure.
"I'm soaked, Trestle." That's a girl, the girl from 11, and the other must be the boy from 6. Beetee warned me about them, how they might be tougher to beat than the Careers. Judging by how fast the Careers are going down this year, I think he just might be right.
"Well, you were in a pond." That's the boy.
"And I got cut and everything while I was running after you."
"We got away, and everything after that is a bonus. I've never once gotten caught, and I wasn't going to start today."
"What did you do to Azlon anyway?" Ferns rustle like she's sitting down. Trestle laughs.
"I didn't think he was very bright, so I made him brighter."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The idiot got torched. That's what happens when you tree someone; you didn't expect I'd just run away without dealing with him, did you?"
A cannon goes off, making me jump. Tilling buries her face in my shoulder, which would be annoying under any other circumstances, but I don't care right now. Trestle is obviously somewhat insane, which means he's capable of anything. There's always one sadistic one, and I guess it's him this year.
"See? That'll be his cannon now," he says smugly.
"You lit him on fire?" The girl doesn't seem quite as enthused about the idea; she might be annoying but I don't think she's a torturer.
"So what? He's dead now, which means we're one step closer to the crown."
I hope they realize that only one of them can win.
"You take first watch; I'm going to sleep," Trestle says.
"I'm tired too, you know."
"Whatever Nell. Wake me up in a few hours." What a catch of an ally. I'm suddenly grateful for Elowyn and even Tilling, who aren't terrible human beings.
Elowyn reaches over Tilling to grab for my hand; it startles me at first but then I take it. She squeezes it several times; what is she trying to say? We've only got a few hours until the sun rises, which means we have to make a plan fast.
A monkey howls off in the distance, which sets off a bunch of other monkeys until the whole jungle around is alive with their eerie and terrifying calls. It's deafening, and also extremely terrifying. I don't know if the howling is coming from mutts or real monkeys; it's just loud.
Luckily, it also hides whispers quite well.
"We've got to get away," Elowyn whispers.
"What are we going to do about the tarp and food?" Tilling asks.
"Leave it. Our mentors can always send us more; we need to get out of here with our lives," I whisper back.
"Or we can pull it down while the monkeys are howling," Elowyn says. "Tilling, if you get the basket and Astrid and I untie the strings holding the tarp to the tree, we might be able to slide out of here with everything."
"When?" Tilling asks.
"Now," I say. "We have to get out of here while it's still dark." I reach up and feel for the strings; I'm grateful that Elowyn tied them in bows and not knots. Tilling kicks around until she manages to pull the basket of food up to where she can grab it.
"I've got it untied," Elowyn whispers, leaning across Tilling to talk to me. "Let's go. We're on a hill, so we can slide down if we're lucky."
I grab my edge of the tarp, and I think Elowyn grabs hers. Please don't let those two hear us. "Now!" Elowyn hisses, and I can hear her slide off the tarp; it jerks a little. Tilling gets out next, hopefully holding the basket of food. I don't know; I can't see her. Lastly, I slip out, pulling the tarp with me.
That's the moment that the monkeys stop howling.
The tarp makes a horrible, loud, plastic rustling noise as it comes down with us; Tilling lets out a squeal that I'm going to hit her for later. We couldn't have been louder if we had driven a truck down the hill.
"Trestle!" I can hear the girl from 11 shouting up above us; I'm tumbling down and down and down the hill, smacking into trees and rocks alike. The tarp's rolling with me, until I'm rolled up in it and I can't move. I have to go; I have to run because the two of them are going to be coming after us and then they're going to kill us.
"Run!" Elowyn says, jumping up next to me.
"Help me out!" I say, trying to kick the tarp off of me. Elowyn rips it off and I scramble to my feet.
"Go! Go!" she says, and takes off running. I think Tilling's crying, but I can't help her; she has to help herself. We need to disappear as fast as we can. We left the tarp behind; I don't care; it's not worth taking if it's caused us this much trouble. I hope Tilling still has the food.
Are they coming after us? I can't hear; can't hear anything but my heartbeat in my ears. It's pitch black in here; I can't see a thing, can't hear a thing; I really, really hope I don't run into a mutt or something.
I trip over something and fall, hitting my head against a tree. The bark scrapes along the side of my face; it stings. Where's Elowyn and Tilling? I want to be able to SEE.
"Elowyn!" I call, chancing being found by Trestle and the girl. Nell, that's what the girl's name is, but it doesn't really matter, does it?
I really hope Mama is asleep right now, and when she wakes up to the recap, she'll see that I'm perfectly okay. Where's everyone?
"Astrid?" That's Elowyn; she hasn't left me.
"Help me up!" I say; somehow she finds me and pulls me to my feet. "Do you think we lost them?"
"Don't know. Let's keep going. Where's Tilling?"
"Right here," Tilling says from a few feet away. "I'm sorry; I dropped the basket. I saved a roll and an apple, but that's about it."
"Damn it," I mutter. "Fine. We got away, that's what matters." Of course, now we have no food and no shelter, but we'll work past that somehow.
"Most important thing," Elowyn says. Something trickles down my neck, and I don't think it's water.
"I've cut my face," I say, pressing the sleeve of my jacket to my scrape.
"Let's hope they can pull together some money for a first aid kit then," Elowyn says. "Let's go."
Since we don't hear anyone coming after us, we don't run any further, just walk, feeling for trees and mutts and tributes alike. To be honest, I have no idea where we are.
"Can we stop?" Tilling asks. "We don't know where we're going."
"Trestle and Nell could be here any moment," I say.
"I think we'd hear them," Elowyn says. "Have you heard either of them? They couldn't be quiet to save their lives."
"Trestle lit another tribute on fire, Elowyn. I'm not staying anywhere near them."
"I'm tired," Tilling says.
"You shush; we let you into the alliance and we can put you out just as easily," Elowyn says.
"Let's walk a little further and then wait for the sun to come up, so we can see where we are," I say. What time is it? One, two in the morning? Or have I been completely misjudging the time?
"Sounds good to me," Elowyn says. Tilling doesn't say anything, just follows along behind us. Going slow is easier than crashing through the bushes full speed, but I still have to dodge trees and other obstacles. My face stings where I scraped it.
Luckily, the arena's leveled out and there's no more hills, but I have no idea what we're walking into now. Tilling snuffles a little next to me, but she's not causing any trouble, so I leave her alone. I think Elowyn has less patience for her than I do.
Slowly but surely, the forest around us gets more visible as the sun rises, but it takes ages before I can actually see anything important. Trees, bushes, flowers- all the usual things that don't tell us anything about where we are.
"What are we doing?" Elowyn asks, looking around. "What's the plan now?"
"I don't know," I say, still walking forward. You can't stay in the same place for long in here, or someone is going to find you. We found that out the hard way. I really hate this; the constant anxiety, the fear that we're going to die, and the knowledge that at least two of us who are standing here are actually going to die eventually.
Are they laughing at me back in District 3, or are they actually supporting me? Circuit, unbelievably, is still out here somewhere; are they supporting him instead? Beetee can only choose one of us to get out of here, and I'm really hoping he hasn't chosen Circuit. He better not have.
"Wait, I see something!" Tilling says; in the grey light I can see her face brighten.
"What is it?" Elowyn asks.
"I think it's water!"
Well, water is one of the most precious things in here; if it is a pond then we're set again. We're going to need more supplies, though. Three allies should be able to pull something together, don't you think?
Throwing caution to the wind, the three of us charge towards where Tilling thinks she sees water. "See! I told you!" she says, pointing.
"Nice one," Elowyn says, cracking a smile at our ally, because she was right; there's two small ponds up ahead, which means we're going to live a little longer.
Tilling falls to her knees beside the pool and I'm not far behind her. I dip both hands in and scoop water up into my mouth, soaking my front in the process. I don't care; we found water.
"I say we split that last roll," Elowyn says, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Keep us going a little longer."
"Okay," I say, taking the roll from where it fell next to Tilling. An apple and a roll; this won't last us long. I rip the bread into three pieces, trying to make it as equal as I can, and pass them out. It's slightly staler than it was yesterday, but I'm not complaining. If our mentors don't get their act together, this will be the last bit of food we get. This and that bruised apple.
"Do you hear that?" Elowyn asks, pausing between bites of bread. Tilling and I freeze, listening for whatever Elowyn's hearing.
"Water?" I say, and Elowyn nods.
"Like the beach. We must be on the coastline," she says, standing up and cramming the last bit of bun into her mouth. I do the same, then the three of us walk towards the sound of waves hitting the beach.
"Not just any beach," I say, grinning. "We've hit the jackpot of beaches." Right from where I'm standing, I can see the Cornucopia, already glittering in the early morning light, still full of supplies, and surrounded by our pedestals.
"We can go have our choice of supplies, and we can even stay in there. We'll be set," I continue. If I can get my hands on a weapon, then I can take every other tribute out with no hesitation. I'd hesitate to kill my allies here, but not the rest of them. If I get the chance, I'll get the two morons, the Careers, and the stragglers around the outsides.
I'll think my way out once I get an axe.
"Yeah, but what's in the water?" Elowyn asks. "And who's to say that someone else isn't already in the Cornucopia, doing exactly what you just suggested?"
I shrug. "Let's go on the offensive rather than the defensive for once, shall we?"
"I don't want to go in the water; I can't swim! I barely got off my plate to begin with!" Tilling says, backing up away from the sand.
"Then stay here while we go and get supplies," Elowyn says, warming to my plan. "You don't have to come with us."
"We just need to get to the pedestals, pause, then keep going to the island," I say, mapping it out in my head. There's bound to be something in the water, but if we can avoid it long enough to get across to the island, we'll be set. I hope.
"So, are you coming or are you not?" Elowyn says, turning to Tilling and crossing her arms. "You're either with us or you're out."
Tilling pauses, then mutters, "I'm coming." Elowyn smiles.
"Perfect. Let's get going then."
Sand crunches and shifts under my feet as I walk with Tilling and Elowyn to the edge of the water, where waves are gently lapping at the beach. The water is clear and almost impossibly blue; I can see fish and strange structures underneath the surface, but nothing else that could kill me at the moment.
"Ready?" Elowyn asks. I nod. Tilling doesn't do anything but look resigned. She wanted to be in the alliance, she comes along. Please don't let there be any other tributes in the Cornucopia. I'm also not looking forward to getting my clothes wet again, but we need food and weapons and anything else they have over there. I want it.
I'm the first to walk into the surf; the fish scatter as I crunch the odd structures beneath my feet. I feel a little bad about that, but it's just a Gamemaker's decoration. They can build more if it means so much to them.
The water comes to my calves, then my thighs, then my waist, until I'm up to my neck and fighting my way through the water to get to the pedestals. My anxiety is rising every moment I'm in here; I can't see what else is in here with me and it's freaking me out. I need to get out; need to get out now. Just as my terror reaches a peak, I reach the plate and pull myself out of the water, gasping.
"Alright?" Elowyn calls from the next pedestal over. I nod, shivering and shaking. Halfway; I'm halfway and I still have to keep going. Tilling's on the other side of Elowyn, and I can see tears running down her face. No weakness from me; I'm District 3 and I can't show weakness. I'm terrified, though.
"Do you see anything?" I ask, shakily standing up and scanning the water. Would we even be able to see anything if it was there? I push my hair out of my face; it's coming loose from its braid, and I haven't done anything with it in three days. I'll re-braid it when we reach the Cornucopia.
"No, do you?" Elowyn calls back. I shake my head.
"Think we better keep going then?"
"Might as well." Elowyn looks pale, but determined. I'm glad I agreed to be her ally; she's been a good teammate. Tilling, I'm still deciding, but it hasn't hurt to have her tag along with us. Yet.
"See you on the other side then," I say, leaping off my pedestal before I lose my nerve. I land in water up to my neck again; the panic comes back and I thrash my way through the water as fast as I can. Nothing grabs me from below, and I finally stumble onto the bare sand of the Cornucopia island, sinking to my knees on the beach.
Elowyn lands next, falling next to me. Together we watch Tilling come ashore, full out sobbing now.
"Quit crying," Elowyn says. "We made it, didn't we?"
"I'm never doing that again!" Tilling says tearfully.
"Not for a day or so anyway," I say, squeezing water out of my shirt. I'll be wet for a long time yet.
Elowyn scrambles to her feet and runs into the Cornucopia; I follow after her. "Look at this!" she says, holding up a package of something dried. "There's packaged food and everything!"
My focus is on the weapons. The horn's been picked through, but the others didn't take everything. I grab an axe in both hands, weighing them in my palms. I could kill with these; I will kill with these. I don't want to, but to get out of this arena I have to play by the rules.
Not that I've ever been particularly good at that, but anyway.
The inside wall of the Cornucopia is so shiny that I can see my reflection in it; I see a thin girl with dark hair plastered to her face, who wears a queer expression. I've changed in the three days I've been in here. Will Mama even know me when I get home? Will I know myself?
"Astrid, I need you to turn around really slowly, okay?" Elowyn says in an oddly calm voice.
"Why? I ask, still facing the wall of the Cornucopia.
"Just do it."
I can hear Tilling start to hyperventilate and cry again; Elowyn says, still in that calm voice, "No sudden movements Tilling. No sudden movements."
I turn slowly around, my axes still in my hands, and my breath catches in my throat.
The beach is surrounded by green shapes in the water; I can't place them at first. What are they? What are they doing? I tighten my grip on my axes and don't move. "What are those?" I ask quietly. Tilling's sobbing a few feet away.
"I think they might be turtles," Elowyn says, still calm. One look at her face and I know she's hardly calm. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is drawn tight. She's keeping her emotions in check, which might save us, though. The opposite of Tilling, who's bordering on hysteria.
I jump backwards when the first turtle leaps out of the water and lands on the beach. Time stands still for all of ten seconds, and then the rest jump out too, smashing into the beach and crawling towards us. Tilling shrieks.
I may not have seen a turtle before, but I don't think they usually have bright blue eyes, jagged, pointed teeth; and I doubt those flippers on real turtles can morph into crab like legs, like the ones in front of us.
"Mutt," I say, and we back up into the Cornucopia.