The ringing of the gong sounds and everyone starts running, some to the Cornucopia and others to the forests behind me. I hesitate at my metal plate, which costs me getting to the center first. A couple of seconds later and the Career Tributes are already there picking up weapons and striking them at the others. My hesitation has cost me the chance to get a weapon.
I quickly look around me and grab a backpack that was a few feet in front of me and I grab the plastic that I saw as I waited for the gong. Having all that I know I can get, I quickly take off into the forest. I just hope that I am not a target for the Careers, there is no way that I can take them on. Especially not without a weapon. I wonder where Monty is as I run through the trees. After a couple of minutes of running a stop and tightening the straps of the backpack so that it doesn't flop around and then I head off again. I want to put as much distance between me and the nearest tribute as possible.
As I run I don't notice the temperature in the arena start dropping. It's not until I stop deep into the forest to catch my breath that I realize just how cold it is. My breath comes out in little puffs of clouds and I realize why we got such a heavy jacket. Not just cold nights, but cold days as well. I have always loved the colder weather but I already know that I will not like this. It's one thing loving it while in the warmth of your house but out in it trying to survive is another.
I look around and take in my surroundings. Tall trees are all around me, providing me with cover from those who wish to kill me. The bushes on the ground will be where I sleep. I know how to find a good spot so that I won't be discovered. My father taught me before he died, he thought it would be a good idea in case I was to ever go into the Games. I am thankful for that. He showed me how to find a bush with a little cave underneath it that is hard to spot unless you know what you are looking for. I spend the next few minutes looking for the right bush and I find one a few yards away from where I started.
This will be my home here in the arena.
The bush contains berries, but from the look of them, the dark almost black coating on them and the tint of red let me know that these are deadly. Which just adds to my shelter. No one will want these berries and they will steer clear of them, leaving me alone.
The sound of the cannon makes me jump. The bloodbath must be over. They only sound the cannons after the bloodbath is over so that it is easier to keep track of who is dead. Eight cannons sound, eight of us are already dead. Sixteen of us remain.
The sun is already starting to make its way towards the horizon. There are still a few hours left of daylight and I realize that I don't have food or water. I take a seat on the cold hard ground and lean back against the trunk of the tree, pulling off my backpack to finally take a look to see what was inside of it.
I pull out a water bottle that has a built-in purifier, but it's empty. There are two packs of crackers and two bags of dried fruits, and a small bag of jerky. There is also a thin piece of fabric, that I have no idea what the use for it is for. A sleeping bag that reflects body heat is also in the bag and I am suddenly grateful that I grabbed this bag. Finally, there is a small knife in it and I frown, I am terrible at knife throwing. But perhaps this knife will have another use, I quickly shove everything back into the backpack and stand up. I need to find some water, I have a little bit of food, but if I were to stumble upon a few edible plants I wouldn't turn them down.
I have never been good at tracking animals, I always overlook the small animal prints in the dirt. But now, I cast my eyes to the ground frantically searching for those little prints hoping that they might lead me where the water might be. I search for minutes but I don't see any, so I give that up and look at the bushes for something editable. My eyes quickly find the bright red berries and I smile. We had picked some the day before the reaping, we ate some for breakfast that day. The sight of the wild strawberries makes me happy. I can survive off of these. I know for certain that these are editable. Next to the strawberries are some elderberries, I have never eaten these but I have watched my mother pick them and eat them. They are small purple and red berries, they look like they could be deadly but I am certain that they aren't.
I pick handfuls of each and stuff them in the side pockets of the backpack and then I continue on my journey to find water. There was that lake by the Cornucopia, but that can't be the only source of water.
The temperature seems to be dropping more and my fingers become cold. I raise them up to my mouth and blow on them to try to warm them up. Despite how cold it is, I know not to make a fire, it's too close to nightfall and I will be easily spotted. I head back to the bush that I have made my home and quickly pull back the bush and crawl into it. There is just enough room in the small cave that I can lay down and I have enough room to sit up. It is dark in here but my eyes quickly adjust. I wonder if the cameras can find me in here. Did they even know about this place?
I quickly pull out the sleeping back and set it out, I don't get into it yet. I want to wait until the anthem plays. That way I know who died, I find myself hoping that Monty's picture isn't displayed up in the sky. I even hope the Calyptus' isn't up there.
Nightfall rises and soon the anthem starts playing. The tributes from 5 are the first to show up meaning that the first Districts are still alive. The girl from 6 and the boy from 7. I am relieved to see that Calyptus is still alive. Cassia from 8. No one from 9, which makes me smile. The boy from 10 and both from 12. Two districts are already gone and it is only the first day.
I crawl back into the cave and slip into the sleeping bag, instantly feeling warmer. A smile is on my face, Monty is still alive and so is Calyptus, and tomorrow I will find them.
Knowing that I will be safe in this little cave I still don't sleep well. I wake up every so often and just listen and then I eventually fall back asleep. That is how the night goes, sleeping for a few minutes and then waking up. All too soon the sun begins to rise and the feeling of tiredness never left me during the night. I quickly sit up and roll up the sleeping back and shove it back into the backpack. I take out the berries that I picked yesterday and a strip of jerky. I nibbled on it while I crawled out of the cave and stood up. I also take the knife from the side pocket of the backpack. It won't do much until I get the surprise attack on someone. If I threw it, I would lose it. I have to use it to stab.
Having had my breakfast I head out in the cold morning air hoping to stumble across either Monty or Calyptus. I don't know if I could handle it if I were to run into someone else. I only have a small knife that I am not good at throwing. The weather is cold and the clouds of white giving the sense of winter. The leaves crunch beneath my feet as I walk in a direction that I hope will lead me to the people that I am hoping to find.
I spend hours walking aimlessly trying to find Monty. He is the one that I want to find first. I step on a stick and it snaps at the same time that a cannon goes off. My heart starts racing as I think about Monty. Could that have been him? I watch as a hovercraft appears across the arena and receives the body. I can't make out who it was. The sound of footsteps breaks my attention away from the departing hovercraft. I quickly turn my head in the direction of the sounds and then hide behind a nearby tree. I know that it is not the best hiding spot but I am hoping to get the element of surprise on the person.
I see a small boy run out and trip over a limb that has fallen from the tree that I am hiding behind. It takes me a few moments to realize that this is Monty, that he is running from someone. I look behind him and see the boy from two. Blaze stands over him holding a sword. He is alone. His back is to me, this is my chance. I quickly step out from behind the tree, careful to keep my feet from stepping on anything that will make a sound. When I am close enough to him I wrap my arm around him and stab the knife in his neck. He turns around to look at me and then he falls to the ground as the cannon goes off.
I stand there staring at him and then at the bloody knife in my hands. I just killed someone. Monty stands up which breaks my attention away from Blaze's body. "Are you alright?" I ask him. I see the tears streaming down his face. He nods his head and I quickly pull him into a hug, "You want to be my ally?" I ask him.
He stands back and looks at me, "Yeah, I don't like to be alone." He whispers. I smile at him and then lean down to pick up the sword that Blaze had. I feel better about having a weapon in my hands.
I hold out the knife to him, "Take it, I have a sword now. You need to be able to protect yourself." I tell him and he hesitantly takes it. "Do you have any food?" I ask him.
He nods his head and pulls out a bag of dried berries. I search Balze's body for any food that he might have had on him. He must have just killed an animal because I pull out some meat from his backpack and smile. I take the backpack off of him and hand it to Monty. "Here, you can have this one," I tell him and he smiles up at me grateful. Now we just need to build a fire and cook the meat and then find water. "You wouldn't happen to know where any water is, would you?"
He nods his head, "Yeah, I saw some just a while ago. I was going to get some when he saw me." Monty saw as he gestures down to the body between us.
"That's good, we need water."
I make sure we have everything that we need and then we take off with Monty leading the way. The sword in my hand, ready in case we run into someone. We walk for minutes, passing animals and berries. With the meat that we got from Blaze, we should be good for a few days. The only problem is the water situation. We won't survive long without it. I have my water bottle and I assume Monty has one now as well in the backpack that he just got.
I hear the water before I see it. The sound of running water makes me even more thirsty. I quickly put the sword up and pull out the water bottle. I see monty dig through his bag and pull out his water bottle as well. Walking up to the stream, I reach the water bottle down into the water. The coldness of it makes me almost drop it but I pull it out of the water once it is full. I take big gulps of water as I wait for Monty to fill up his. I then refill mine and start looking around for sticks that I can use to build a fire.
Monty drinks the water, filling and refilling his water bottle until he is good on water. I pick up a few sticks and stuff them in my bag. A few small rocks and some leaves. I didn't want a big fire, just enough to cook out food. Monty helps me gather the supplies and then we start back. The sun is high up in the sky, we still have plenty of time before night starts to fall. Plenty of time before the fire will be easily spotted.
I told Monty where I spent the night and he told me that he had climbed a small tree. He said that it got cold up there, he hadn't grabbed anything from the Cornucopia like I had. We haven't had a chance to look at the contents of his backpack that he got today but I hope he has a sleeping bag as well because it helped keep me warm last night.
When we arrive back at the bush I can sense something is off. "So the berries aren't edible?" Monty asks but I keep my eyes trained on the trees in the distance. "How do you even know? I mean they look like the ones you gave me." He rambles on.
Leaves crunching in the distance, a few feet in front of us, draw our attention. It could have easily just been an animal but we both are on guard. The sight of a person running out with knives scares me. I shove Monty into the bush with the small cave underneath it. I pull out my sword and take a stance. The boy from 3, Caspian, is older than me. He is seventeen and stronger than me. I almost don't stand a chance, but I'm not going to go down without a fight. I took down a Career, sure it was the element of surprise, but I still got him.
Caspian stands there holding knives in his hands, I feel my heart start racing, it's kill or be killed. I remind myself. I barely have time to process that he throws one of the knives before it hits me in the arm. I scream out in pain but focus on the boy in front of me. I raise my sword up and he throws another at me. I watch as the knife comes closer to me and it seems as if time slows down and I am easily able to deflect the knife with the blade of the sword. He looks at me shocked and I step closer to him.
I swing the sword at him but he grabs the blade trying to turn it around to face me. I grab onto the blade as well and feel the sharp edges slice into my hand but I don't pay attention to it. The blood running down my arm where the knife is still sticking out gives me an idea. I just hope that I will be able to pull it off.
With a shaky breath, I release the sword and Caspian takes full control of it. I hold my breath and then pull out the knife that is in my arm. He swings the sword at me but I am faster and I duck just in time and then I raise my arm up and I feel the knife strike him in the stomach. He stumbles back and with he guard down I grab the sword again and stab him in the heart. The cannon sounds after and I turn back to see Monty crawling out of the cave. He stares at me in horror.
"You're hurt." He states.
I want to tell him that I never planned on winning that I wanted him to but I decided against it. "I'll be fine," I say and then I dig through my bag looking for anything that I can use to wrap around my arm to stop the bleeding. Finding nothing, I look at Caspian's body and to the shirt, he is wearing. I feel bad about doing it, but I grab one of his knives and cut a piece of his shirt, and secure it around my arm. "You're hands too," Monty says.
I look down at them and see the blood all over my hands, and then quickly get some more pieces of fabric. "We need to get going," I tell him, certain that the others might have heard the commotion.
We gather all that we have and start looking for someplace to stay the night. It is only the second day, it could last for five more or even longer. Night is beginning to fall when we spot a cave on the side of a mountain. Hoping that none else has found this we head inside. I am in no shape right now to be in another fight. The inside of the cave is dark, but there are no signs of life, which is a good thing. I know that we need to cook that meat soon before it spoils but I am scared to make a fire at night. But maybe in the cave, in the very back, it won't be so bad. It would keep up warm and provide us food that we can eat.
Monty starts setting the rocks and sticks down that we have collected and I tell him that I can do it if he could get something to try to conceal the entrance. The sound of Monty's retreating footsteps echoes in the cave as I hold a stick in my hands and rub them together, trying to start the fire. The small little smoke that comes up makes me smile and I quickly blow lightly on it to try to make it bigger. Soon the fire is big enough that we can cook out food. The warmth from the fire gives my cold body life back to it.
I hear running and I quickly stand up. Automatically my hand goes to the sword that hangs on my left side. I see Monty run back into the cave carrying a silver parachute. He got a gift from a sponsor, that's good. Maybe it will be something useful, something that he can use to win. "Look what you got." He says excitedly.
I stare at him confused, "Me?"
He nods his head, the orange flames casting a small light into the dark cave. "It says, 'Use gently, Ember.'" He reads off the small white card and then hands the container to me.
I grab it unsure about what it could be and then I open it. Inside the container is a small tube of a gel, I can only assume it is for the wound that I got today. I stick my finger into it and spread it on the palm of my other hand and then do the same for the other. I take the bloody fabric off of my arm and run the cream on it. Instantly the burning pain is gone and I feel nothing. Monty watches me and I smile at him, "It works." I told him. I know I should thank my sponsors so I quickly stare at the entrance and whisper out a thank you.
A few minutes later we hear the anthem start playing. Monty and I step out of the safety of our cave to see who died today. The boy from 2, and 3. Both of the ones that I killed. And then they show the picture of the girl from 10, both of the tributes from 10 are now gone. Then it's over. Only three died today, but hopeful my two battles will be enough to hold the Gamemakers over. They get bored when nothing happens and when they get bored mutts tend to come out. Eleven of us are dead, thirteen remain.