And here is chapter three...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games; they belong to the genius that is Suzanne Collins.
Sixty seconds and then run. Sixty seconds to check out the arena, analyse my chances of surviving the bloodbath and then run. I figure if I run the careers will surely hunt me down. They'll all be going in for the cornucopia, grabbing the deadliest weapons, picking off as many tributes as they can. I need to make sure I have weapons too considering everyone in the arena will be coming after me. I have to make sure I'm with the careers too. They're my biggest obstacle to survival and I must have the upper hand on them. Yes, bloodbath it is.
Glancing around, I notice Sapphire a few tributes to my left. She looks at me suspiciously, catches my eye and nods, willing me on. I nod back and position my feet to run to the pile. Amidst the many goodies in the mouth of the cornucopia, I spot a selection of knives, a bow and many other sharp, lethal things that I could use. Many other tributes are looking greedily into the centre but I try not to notice them, nor think about which of them I will kill. No one is my friend here and if I'm going to make it out, it will be alone.
The countdown reaches ten seconds. Ten seconds to go. Ten seconds and I could be dead. Ten days and I could be out of here. But I can't think of that now. I must concentrate on surviving the first few hours. Five. I place my feet so I'll be running towards the knives at the centre. Four. This is it then, a matter of life or death. Three. I can do this, I know I can. Two. I get ready and… One. Run.
I'm at the centre of the cornucopia before any other tribute. I quickly seize the sharpest knife I can find and turn around to find the boy from six running at me. I one swift movement, I open his throat up in a red smile. He falls dead to the ground. It's all I can do not to drop the dripping knife in disgust. I try not to think about the fact I just killed him and busy myself by snatching up as many weapons as possible. This time when the girl runs past, I just throw the nearest thing (which happens to be a spear) at her legs. She falls down, screaming in agony before Cai hacks her head off without a thought.
All around me are tributes fighting and dying at the hands of my allies. I want to leave. To run into the woods and not look back. But I can't. I know I can't. Careers fight until the end when everyone is dead. If I want to earn their trust, this is the time to do it. Spotting Sapphire pinned down by the much larger boy from eleven, I take a bow, nock the arrow, and fire it into his head. Sapphire rolls him off her and stands up to regain her composure. She gives me a look of approval before turning to get into a fight with the girl from seven.
For the rest of the bloodbath I collect all the supplies I'll need in the days to come and try not to get killed. The girl from three does try to take a bite out of my arm but Sapphire stabs her in the back. She falls dead at my feet. Great, Sapphire and I are even now. It would have come in handy for her to owe me.
"Check her," she snarls at me, "Since you're not going to do anything else."
Glaring at her, I kneel down and examine the corpse. She didn't have much except a small dagger which I attach to my belt before standing back up to find the bloodbath has finished. I glance around. I am surrounded by dead bodies. The ground I stand on is painted a sickening red and I look down in horror to find that after stepping too close to a body, the soles of my boots are now caked in dried blood. Just as I feel my breakfast is about to make a reappearance, the cannon booms to signify the death of a tribute. Nine more sound and I can't help but thinking of how I killed two of those. To my revulsion, the rest of the careers jump around gleefully, waving their bloodied weapons in the air. In effort to join in, I let out a small whoop but my voice sounds hollow and hoarse.
"Grab whatever," says Cai, "I say we go hunting."
They all grin manically at the thought of more bloodshed and begin to make their way towards the most brutal looking armaments. I stand there awkwardly, having already collected supplies. So instead, I occupy the time by shooting at the out skirting trees and soon I get the feel of the bow. The string is a little too tight for comfort but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.
"Ready?" I hear Diana say. We all nod and then we're running through the forest in the quickly fading light. Within hours, we're all panting and have to sit on the ground or lean against the trees. Then, the anthem plays and the sky lights up with the Capitol seal and the faces of the ten dead tributes are projected above us. First come the male and female from district three, one I recognise as the girl Sapphire killed. The girl from five comes too; I think her name was Heph or something. Then, to my dismay, the boy from six with the dark hair is shown- the one I killed. For little reason too I might add. The girl from his district is displayed as well, then the boys from eight and nine and the girl that Cai killed from ten- the one I speared in the leg. Next is the dark skinned boy from district eleven- who I also murdered. And lastly, Dell.
I manage to turn away from the others before I throw up. My last meal comes back up slimy and brown and foul smelling. How is Mason dead? How is that possible? Dell, the dark-haired grey-eyed boy from the Seam. The boy who had five younger siblings for whom he had entered his name into the reaping bowl over fifty times. I think of him now, cold and motionless. He must have gone in for the bloodbath. Truthfully, I didn't like him at all but he was still from my district. I swear I will kill whoever did this to him.
I wipe my face and turn back around where my allies stand staring at me. Acionna hands me a canteen of water that was scavenged from the cornucopia and I gulp it down, grateful to rid my mouth of the awful taste. "Who killed him?" I ask, looking at my peers as scrutinising as I can manage.
"None of us if that's what you mean," says Cai.
"Think it was the girl from five," shrugs Diana, "Looks of you, she's lucky I got her first."
I didn't notice that I had my fists clenched until now. I shake my hands about, trying to get some feeling back into them. "I don't really care," the second the words leave my mouth I know that they're not true, that I really did care about my district partner, "He would've never won anyway. No one from twelve ever wins." Except me, I add silently.
"Let's just make camp," interrupts Acionna, "We're clearly not going to find anyone tonight."
"Fine," says Sapphire, taking back charge.
"I'll make a fire," and then with a flip of blond hair, the small girl from district four sashays off into the woods.
The rest of us lean against the trees or lie in piles of leaves to try and get comfortable. Acionna soon returns and eventually we sit around the fire eating packets of nuts from the bloodbath. An insubstantial meal, yes but after the entire contents of my guts came back up, anything is welcome in my stomach. Cai volunteers to take first watch and I'll take second. The others begin to fall asleep one by one. First goes Acionna, then Percy, Finn, Diana and finally Sapphire. I don't though. I keep my eyes open and my hand on the hilt of my dagger. I know if I fall asleep that one of them will likely kill me. Soon, Cai "wakes me up" so I sit at the foot of the tree and watch until I'm sure he's asleep. The dagger comes out and I sit wondering whether or not I should do what I'm about to do. I'm just standing up when I hear Sapphire moving. Is she awake? I pause for what must be a few minutes. Not another sound comes from her. I get back up and go for the nearest tribute. It's Diana. I slit her throat and she dies soundlessly. The cannon sounds and I stand there, praying none of them woke. Thankfully, they didn't. Next to her is Finn. He goes the same way. I move over silently to Acionna. My knife is just about to come down when her eyes snap open. I clamp my hand down over her mouth and her eyes widen in terror as she sees the knife. I try and contain her but she bites down hard. I pull away. She has just enough time to scream before I kill her.
The others begin to stir but the first one up is Sapphire. She jolts up as though she was never even asleep. She kicks my knife out of my hand and it goes flying into a tree. She is stood up before I can grab another and kicks at me again. I fall to the ground and get a mouthful of leaves. Spitting them out, I roll to my side to avoid her axe. It becomes lodged in the ground where my head was a second ago. By the time she has pulled it up, I'm flying through the undergrowth like a wild dog from a fire. Behind me, Sapphire shouts at the boys to get up. They'll be after me now. They'll have to catch me first I think. Yes, I'll be on the other side of the woods by the time they can get to where I am now. I can outrun anyone in my class and I can most certainly outrun them.
My feet are flying in the fastest sprint I have ever managed. Adrenaline courses through my body until that's practically all I am. They are still behind me but nowhere near to catching up to me. I can hear them panting and crashing past the trees. At my side I spot an area of thick bushes and turn toward it. They follow me. I reach the bush and dive into it. I have to run slightly side on to squeeze through but I make it in. Stray twigs scratch my face and I trip over roots with every step but I refuse to fall over or stop moving.
Behind me I hear Sapphire screaming and cursing at me. She must have been able to get into the compact plantation with her thin body. She is making a huge racket as she hacks away the leaves with the axe. Catch me if you can, I think and know she never will.
I make a point to twist and turn as much as possible to confuse her and it works because her noise fades away. My feet have been tripping over now but I get up immediately each time. I can't feel my body at all now which is good because, if Sapphire were to catch up, I doubt I would feel her axe when she killed me.
Hours later I'm still running. I'm not sure what from anymore. The careers will have long given up on chasing me and will have stopped somewhere to rest and scheme. I may be running from the three children I just killed but that would be pointless. They're long dead, they can't follow me. But really that's a lie because I know that deep down I will always be haunted by them. Five now, it must be. Five young lives I have taken. Five children taken from the world. Five families mourning their sons and daughters. I knew this place would change me but one day to become a killer is practically a sin. So I keep running. But you can't run away from yourself.
Dun, dun, dun...
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