The First Annual Hunger Games

by Callidora Medea

Following the Dark Days, the President of Panem announces the beginning of the Hunger Games. District 4 girl, Cass, District 1 girl, Silver, and District 7 girl, Oak, are all thrown into the turmoil that is the first Hunger Games, and must choose their alliances; decisions that can mean life or death in the arena. All intend to win. But there can be only one victor.

28. Chapter 28- Sanguin

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Chapter 28.- Cass Oceansong

The cannon wakes me out of a sound sleep. The first one of the second day. My hair is wet with dew. I wonder who was just killed. There was a cannon in the middle of the night, too. Fifteen left to play. I wipe the dew off me and sit up. First thing to do today is find water, I decide. I don't hear anyone around. Even so, I wait a moment, then I crawl out from under the bush. I take a few sips of water and eat a plum from the package. Then I pack everything up and start moving deeper into the woods. I think I will go find Willow. She's not dead, not that I know of.

The sun beats down even between the trees. It's eerily quiet. I feel lucky for that; it means no one is hunting me. I walk hours and hours, one knife gripped in my hand, the other packed away. Then, a stick cracks behind me. I dart behind a tree as fast as I can, the knife clutched even tighter. Quickly I scale the tree and look down from one of its branches. It's the District 12 boy. He's limping something terrible, and he doesn't have much in ways of supplies, I don't think. Then I realize this boy is standing between me and District 4, and I look at my knife.

I take a deep breath. I know the cameras are on me, know that my family is watching me. And I decide to make the boy's death as quick and painless as possible. I drop down from the tree, silently landing on the forest floor. He doesn't suspect much. I creep up behind him, my breath shaky, my hands trembling. I grab him by the shoulder and he leaps a mile. He spins around and fear crosses his face before it hardens. He slaps my hand away from his shoulder. "What are you doing?" he asks in an angry tone. "I-I'm sorry. I need to go home," I stammer. "Well, so do I," he replies, and it's at that point that I notice that he has a dagger in his right hand. I back away from him slowly. "I don't have a choice, I'm sorry," I say. He shakes the dagger and it expands into a sword. We begin circling each other.

"Well, I'm going to kill you. And I'm going to kill everyone else in this arena and go home," he says. "No, wait, please. What's your name? If you're going to kill me or if I'm going to kill you, I want to at least know your name," I say, pleading. He looks briefly confused then his face knits back into its mask of hatred. "Sanguin. Sanguin Ashhill. I'm fourteen, and I'm going to kill you." Then he strikes at me. I shriek and leap backwards, narrowly missing his swing. I start dodging his attacks, each one closer and closer to me. Then, he swings, and I'm against a tree and I can't move in time. He swings- and he hits me. I scream, tears pouring down my face, blood pouring from my side. I clutch my wound and collapse over. Sanguin stands over top of me, looking smugly victorious. I can barely see him through the haze of pain. He raises his sword above my chest. I can't do anything. I'm going to die, I know it. I'll never see my family or friends, or the ocean again. All I can do is look up in fear at Sanguin and wait for the killing blow.

It never comes. Sanguin stops and goes rigid. Then he drops the sword and collapses to the ground. It's then I notice the knife in his back. Confused I look up in the direction of where the knife had come. Standing there is Willow, standing straight as an arrow. Then she gets over her shock and runs towards me. "Cass. Cass are you okay?" "I don't know. He cut me with his sword." Willow kneels next to me. "Let me see." She pulls up my t-shirt and examines my wound. "It's deep, but luckily didn't hit any organs. You're lucky," she says. She grabs my blanket and rips a strip off the bottom. She ties it around my middle to stop the bleeding. "There. Come on, they'll want to collect the body," she says, helping me up. She grabs the knife from Sanguin's back, then helps me start to move on. I take one look back at Sanguin though. And I think about his family back at his home, mourning him now. "I'm sorry, Sanguin," I whisper. Then we move through the trees and I see him no more.