Chapter 35- Silver Bellcreek
I'm haunted by the sight of that girl's bone showing through her arm. No wonder she was screaming. I don't even remember what district she was from now, only that we hunted her down and left her to die. I was almost glad when the cannon fired; now she wouldn't be in pain anymore.
It's a big risk we've taken leaving the Cornucopia all together like this, but Curia and Glow seem to think it's a good idea, and the rest of us just go along with it. So far we're faring well; nobody's hungry or thirsty or anything. And we certainly don't want for weapons.
"Where are we going?" Lar whines from the back of the group. "To find some more tributes, idiot," Curia snaps. "It's not a good idea to leave the supplies unprotected!" Lar continues. "Shut up Lar! We know what we're doing!" Glow says, clenching the sword he's holding. Do we know what we're doing? I certainly don't.
Curia looks sideways at me. "Still feeling green, 1? Couldn't take it back there?" "Couldn't take what? That girl? One less tribute, Curia." I force myself to smile. She's still suspicious of me, but lets it go.
"I mean, who's left?" Beade asks; I almost forgot she was there she's been so quiet. But no, she's following along with Lar at the back, bow and arrow in hand. "Does it matter? We're going to kill them anyway," Glow says, attention forward. "Yeah, but who?"
The whole group stops and Glow gets into Beade's face. "Shut up, pretty girl, and let's get on with it." Beade only cocks an eyebrow at Glow and says nothing. Silently they stare at each other until Glow stomps back to the front of the group, by Curia.
During this silence in our group I notice that all the birds have stopped singing. The whole forest is quiet, and it feels ominous. "Stop," I whisper, but nobody pays attention to me. "Stop." "What is it, Silver?" "Something doesn't feel right. Something's wrong." To their credit, everyone does stand still and wait.
It's Lar that breaks the silence. "Well if we're doing nothing, I'm going back. I'd rather guard the supplies." "Stay here, Lar!" I tell him, but he doesn't listen. He turns and stomps off, every step ricocheting through the trees. He hasn't gone far when we hear a snap. A sort of springing sound.
The trees around us come alive with arrows, fired out of some sort of trap mechanism, something that Lar triggered. "Get down!" I shriek, slamming to the ground so fast I bite my lip and I feel blood start to run down my chin. Everyone else drops too, and starts sliding on their bellies out of the range of fire.
We're a mess when we get out of shot, the arrows continuing to fire behind us, then getting slower and slower. Glow's got an arrow in the arm and the wound is bleeding in rivulets down his arm. I'm still dripping blood off my chin. Only Curia seems to have come through unscathed. What about Beade? Where's Beade? I register the sound of the cannon firing, and I know.
Craning my head around the trees to where the arrows started, I see where Beade is lying. She's lying in her own blood, an arrow through her neck. Poor, pretty Beade. From where I crouch, I can see her blond hair slowly turning red, then I turn away.
"Beade's dead." "The arrows got her?" Glow asks, between panting breaths. He's looking at that arrow in his arm. Why on earth didn't we bring medical supplies with us? Maybe we're stupider than I thought.
"The arrows didn't get her, that idiot Lar did!" Curia says furiously, and stands up. "He could have killed all of us! Get up! Get up!" She hauls me to my feet and starts to march off, around the arrow traps, in the direction where Lar was headed. I give Glow a hand up and we follow her, both of us leaving blood trails. I don't care.
When we catch up with Curia, she's caught Lar and she has her dagger beneath his chin. "Watch what happens to an idiot in the Games," she says, and with one swift movement she slashes his throat and he drops to the ground. The cannon fires almost instantly. I cover my mouth in shock; Lar was her district partner and everything.
Curia points with her knife to the boy's body. "That is what happens to an idiot in the Hunger Games. Let's go. We need to get back." With that, she turns and walks through the forest like nothing ever happened. Glow follows without a word, but I look back when I hear the single bird call. I just catch a glimpse of Lar, my foolish ally, being taken into the air by a hovercraft claw. Then I melt into the forest after Curia and Glow.
I think it might be time to end this alliance. I need to escape- before Curia kills me too.