CHAPTER 16 – Hunger
JOHANNA
He's tall. Shaped like an oak; broad shoulders and torso, but surprisingly slender arms. He's from Six, which I know little about, apart from the fact that they're involved in transporting all of the supplies from one end of Panem to the other. Whether this boy is some tough-skinned engineer or a well-fed mayor's son, I can't tell.
I can tell that I could kill him though, here and now. He's unarmed and hasn't spotted me. The woods here are dense and I know enough about trees to find the right spots to slip behind and remain unseen. One well-timed attack and a good hit to the back of the neck could send even the strongest of Careers down without much of a fight, let alone a boy from Six. I risk a glance down at the knife in my hand. Will it be strong enough to withstand a blow of such magnitude? Suddenly, I wish I hadn't hidden that axe. I'd be able to find it easily enough, if I remember the path back up the mountain, but it'll be hard to hide my retreat from Twine.
Twine. My thoughts return to the girl in the cave; shivering, wild hair tangled, ankle askew. I shouldn't leave her long, but I can't allow this boy to get away. A tribute so close to us is another unneeded threat, and I don't think the Capitol would look favourably on any form of mercy. Perhaps for any other tribute, it would be seen as a smart, tactical move. But not me. I've shown them I can kill. Now that they've gotten a taste for it, they'll want to see more.
The boy from Six, who has been rustling in the undergrowth, suddenly stands up. He faces away from me, almost attempting to be stone-still, but he appears to be swaying slightly. His left pant leg is ripped, as if he fell into a pile of thorns, and there appears to be blood smeared down his jacket. Either he got off lucky at the cornucopia, or this boy has killed someone. I cross my free fingers tightly by my side. I hope more than anything that it's not the latter.
And then, all of a sudden, Six lurches forward. His steps are lumbering. Mechanical. I'm surprised that he hasn't been found yet, with all the noise that he's making. Surely the Careers are making their way down the mountainside now – I'd be hard pressed to believe they're tracking Twine and I down, but I'd never know. I need to get to this boy before they take the kill from me. Still, part of me feels hesitant. If he's made his base in this part of the woods, he may have things I can use. Let him lead me there and then take the plunge. Show the Capitol I'm not just ballsy, I can use my brain too.
Still, as I tiptoe behind him through the trees, I can't help but feel unease pool in the pit of my stomach. This isn't like the girl from Two. I felt no fear then, only adrenaline, and she was a threat to my life. This is an outer district boy with empty hands and torn trousers. By all accounts, he's about as dangerous as Twine is.
We walk for a while, zig zagging through the underbrush, and I'm just beginning to wonder if this boy isn't a pair of matches short of a fire when the squirrel hops out from the undergrowth and right into his path. It's a small red thing, curious tail perked up and nose twitching in the air. These aren't the fearful animals back in Seven; scared away by rowdy logging parties and the threat of ending up on someone's plate, these creatures haven't seen any humans before the tributes were unleashed upon the arena. I'm just thinking about how cute the little guy seems, when Six pounces.
Now. I understand the need. It's called the Hunger Games for a reason, and even as relatively well-fed as I've been, the gnawing pain of an empty stomach edges on my every waking moment. But the way that Six grasps the thing, like it's a ragdoll and takes a big, meaty bite out of it's still-squirming form makes my starving stomach want to empty up anything that remains in it. But it doesn't. And even though my hands start to shake, and I've made up my mind here and now that I'm not killing this boy, because only someone too far gone to consider anything but kill and survive would snarl and tear like this, I can't move. I can't move and I just stand and stare, transfixed as the boy smears the last remains of the creature across his face, like war paint.
So, this is what the Capitol thinks we are. Animals kept in cages; thoughts only to kill and kill and kill with blood and entrails and teeth and jaws. This is who I've been put against. A wild creature, a mutt.
He walks, and I follow on. I don't know why, and I know I should go running back to Twine. Yell at her to get up, for us to run back to somewhere safe. Suddenly I want nothing more than to be back in the Training Centre, in my awful, stifling Capitol room with Ainsley next door and Hazel down the corridor. I don't want to be here anymore. But I have no choice. And so, I walk.
And I'm stupid. So stupid that, when I realise, the cold chill that runs down my spine is like being stabbed. But there's nothing I can do, not when we're so close to the rocky face of the mountain and not when this boy is being so loud. I can only hope Twine is smart.
But, she's not.
"Johanna?" She's loud, her voice a dead giveaway to her location; the very cave I left her in. "Jo, is that you? Are you hurt?"
I don't see Six's face, but I sense the rush of excitement that runs through him. The pure exhilaration of the hunt, as the lumbering gets faster and faster and the ragged breathing becomes panting. The knife's still in my hands, but I can't do it. I can't move fast enough, I can barely move at all, just enough to see his next move. He steps into the mouth of the cave.
"What did you do to Jo?" That's Twine's first question. Not who are you, or what are you doing? She sees this boy, blood smeared across his mouth, and, voice shaking, she asks about me. "I've got a knife. You can leave me alone, or I'll use it."
The boy mumbles something, a garbled mix of consonants and letters that make no sense to anybody but him. As I get closer, I can hear her breathing; failing attempts to remain steady and calm.
"I don't know what you're saying – no really, stand back, I promise, this knife is – no, please no!"
The first thud hits so hard, it echoes across the rock face and out into the forest, sending birds scattering from the trees. Twine's scream sounds like she's ripping her throat out, something so desperate and feral it sends a shock down my body. My legs give out in front of me, and I stumble forwards, just enough to get a glimpse of what's happening in the mouth of the cave.
Six has a rock. A big one. He must have found it on the floor by the entrance to the cave. It's in his hands, lifted up high, and he brings it down on Twine. Once. Twice. Her screams are in time to his blows, howling, animal noises that make every nerve in my body seize up in terror. Six continues, bashing the rock down on her body until her torso is mashed to a pulp and the screams become whimpers, and then gasps. He continues, up until her owl eyes, glazed over with enough pain to drive someone to insanity, gaze right past him and out of the mouth of the cave. Onto me.
It feels like forever. And then Twine's canon fires.
But Six doesn't stop. He keeps going, keeps bashing her lifeless body with the rock like she's a plaything. And I can't move. Everything's slick with her blood; the cave floor, the walls, the snow outside laps up the red stuff and slowly spreads it out across its surface, like tendrils of red smoke. He hits and hits and hits until a single red claw reaches out and grasps what remains of Twine's heart from the pulp that used to be her body. And this boy, no, this creature, takes a bite out of my friend.
I run.
A/N: Sorry bois, this is a short one, but anything else added would have really messed up the pace here. Pour one out for Twine :(