Here's chapter four! Please follow and review!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.
It takes me a few days to slow down to a walk for fear that another tribute will jump out of the trees and attack. I'm so weak and exhausted that anyone could come and kill me by simply shoving me over and the mix of tiredness and self-pity would mean I would never get up. Right now, I'm so disgusted at myself I would welcome death. I deserve to die really. To make up for those people I killed. But I suppose then they would have died for nothing. After all, the only reason I killed them is so I could win.
I am so furious that my plan failed. The Careers are more dangerous now than ever. They will undoubtedly come up with some elaborate trap to draw me in before killing me in the most agonising and demeaning way their devious minds can think of. Until then, they are on a rampage, obliterating three tributes in what I think was three days.
My sanity has begun to slowly diminish like a spool of thread being unwound. I start thinking like prey and jump at the sound of the slightest disturbances. Even birdsong brings me rushing for cover for over an hour. I am so afraid of everything that I haven't even stopped to find food or water. The only thing I could bring myself to swallow was a cracker from my backpack and the thought of Dell cold and still brought it right back up.
I travel to parts of the arena that I haven't seen. The ground becomes rocky and covered in pebbles that I stumble over with every movement. Eventually the ground gets soft and sandy and I find myself stood on a large, warm beach. In front of me is the largest body of water I have ever seen. Without thought I run to it and scoop water into my hands and pour it down my throat. It hardly makes it to my stomach before its reappearance. I keel over, coughing and spluttering to get every last bit up. It tastes even worse coming back up.
I have no strength left now and I curl up on the sand with the waves lapping over me. The sun shines down on me, warming my body pleasantly. At least this is a nice place to die. I lie there and wait for the end. Should I be doing something right now? I feel like I ought to say sorry for the things I've done in the past days. But I suppose that would be pointless. There is no one to hear and it will hardly make a difference to those kids. I can't bring them back through apologising.
Instinctively, my hand goes to my chest. There, I am met with rough shape: the mockingjay pin. My mother's pin. Will she be okay with my death? Obviously not. This is her worst nightmare come true. And what will she do to herself? If she kills herself then it will destroy my father and then what would happen to Rowan. No, I can't die. My death will ultimately kill those around me and I need to live long enough to avenge Dell. "Not today," I croak.
By some means, I sit up. My frame struggles to support my weight but I do it. What I need desperately is water. So what I need is sponsors and pity won't get me those. I begin to hike back into the woods where I find a squirrel. After gutting it and carefully checking for parasites, I eat it raw. There is no way I am lighting a fire here. That is like screaming "I'm over here, come kill me!" at the top of my lungs.
I feel slightly better after this but the meat tastes dry and nothing else. I know if I don't get fresh water soon, I'll die of thirst. "Would it kill you to send me some water here?" I grumble. As if on cue, the water lands beside me attached to a parachute. I dive for it and gulp it down in an instant. I stop myself before I drink too much; this will have to last. Instead I sit and sip slowly for the next few hours and I gradually begin to feel stronger. I back up my things and move again, this time slowly and quietly with my bow loaded and ready. The light fades again so I stop to sleep for the first time in days. The anthem plays and I look up to find that there were no deaths today. There are still twelve of us left and eleven must die for me to win. I suppose I'm halfway there.
In the morning I go hunting again, leaving my supplies hidden in a bush by my camp. I try and target squirrels since I can eat them raw but I'll have no use for birds or rabbits without means of cooking them. I notice that I'm running low on water again and plan to search for some after eating. Four squirrels later I head back to my base and skin and gut my game.
I seem to have gotten my courage back now and I feel like I can do this again. All I need to do is figure out a way to take out the Careers and I've won. For now I need to regain strength and let the other tributes fight it out for a while until there's a handful left. Today I'll find some sort of stream to fill up my bottle then continue to move around. I wouldn't want to stay in the same place for more than a night because the longer I stay, the more likely someone will find me.
After devouring half a squirrel, I hear them. Their song fills the trees and reminds me of home. The mockingjays are here. I touch my pin again and try and remember the song my mother used to sing when I was young. Something clicks and I open my mouth to sing:
Meet me down by the river bend,
Where the iris flowers grow,
Meet me down by the valley's end,
Where the wind will softly blow,
Meet me down by the rowan tree,
Where you and I are free,
You must be good; have bravery,
For I love you and you love me.
After a moment, the birds take up the song. The unearthly sound travels through the air and fills me with a burning fire that moves down from my chest and strengthens my entire body. It's hope. I feel unstoppable.
"That was beautiful," says a voice behind me.
I jump around to find the district seven boy standing there. How could I have been so stupid? Singing in the middle of the forest? He'll kill me now with his axe. I could make a break for it but I'd have to leave everything here and then where would I be? Besides, I'm sure he can throw that thing pretty far.
"I heard you sing at the 92nd. Just amazing. Your voice has this certain thing to it, I can't quite place my finger on what it is but it's fantastic." He's playing with me for sure. Maybe to give time for an ally to sneak up on me. He doesn't notice that I've picked up my knife.
"I heard you in the forest before as I was passing by. We thought we'd stop by for a visit." We. Then I feel the sharp blade at my neck.
"Want me to kill her, Ash?" says my captive in an almost bored tone. It's a girl, probably his district partner. I try and think of a way out but there is none. If I kill the girl, Ash will kill me and if I kill Ash, the girl will kill me. This is it, and all because I just had to sing in the arena.
"Nah. Unless you want us to?" I was just figuring out if I could dodge his axe when he says it.
"No, please don't," I wheeze. Ash nods in my direction and the pressure on my throat disappears. I didn't realise I was holding my breath. I turn to the girl. She is about the same size as me with black hair and brown eyes, the same as Ash. She holds one of my knives in one hand and a large axe in the other. I snatch the knife back. She only blinks at me.
"So, you going to repay us for sparing your life?" she says.
"Depends," I say, hoping to sound like I wasn't scared out of my wits that one of them would throw their axe at my head.
"We don't want to take all your supplies or anything, we've got like way more than we need. But I've seen you throw and you're pretty good, plus I'm guessing that you killed those Careers?" I nod, unsure where this is going.
She sighs. "Do you want to join us or what?"
An alliance. I didn't really want to join an alliance. The Careers were just a strategy to get close to them and kill them but this seems genuine. I'm wary though. They're from district seven so I don't doubt their skills with those axes and I bet they could kill me easily. But they could've killed me just then so really it would be pointless to just let me live longer. Unless they're really dumb, they actually want me to join. Besides, the alternative is death so I guess this is better.
"Okay but try anything and I'll rip your throat out."
"Don't plan on it," says Ash, "Pack your stuff and we'll head to base camp."
Ash and the girl (who is called Ivy) assist me in collecting my weapons and food and stuffing them into the backpack. I notice that Ivy walks with a limp and when she sees me looking she just says "The bitch from one didn't go down easy," and reveals the large gash in her upper left thigh.
"Sapphire isn't injured," I state.
"Then she's hiding it. I know where I hit her." She covers up the cut again. It's a nasty wound. It's quite deep and looks infected.
"You should treat that," I say but she ignores me. She's as stubborn as I am.
We run through the forest. They say that they've set up a camp by the beach but they plan on moving later. That honestly sounds like a good idea; despite the beauty of it, the gamemakers haven't tried anything yet but I can just imagine the huge tidal wave and I want to be as far away from the sea as possible when that happens. Eventually, we come to the cliff.
"We have to climb down now," says Ash. He takes the lead and begins the descent. I follow soon after. The climbing is hard and by the time I reach ground my hands are raw. Once down there, I discover that they have very cleverly built the campsite on a ledge sheltered by the cliff making it invisible, yet above ground level to avoid the tides. You can tell that they made it to the bloodbath because their weapons lie both around and inside a tent. They have food too. All of it is Capitol style so it's clear they haven't hunted yet. Next to a fire sits a tall, tanned boy from district ten. He warms his hands on the flames and sharpens his glistening sword. He barely looks up when we arrive.
"Hey Joan, I think that's sharp enough," says Ash when we arrive. In the short time I've known him, I've learnt that Ash seems to have this way of talking like everything is some big joke that he formulated, that this isn't a big fight to the death and in days we won't all possibly be dead.
"You can never get it too pointy," replies the boy. His tone is serious, dull even, compared to Ash.
"Fair enough. We have a new ally. Joan meet-"
"Oh I know who she is," he says a little harshly. Does everyone know who I am?
"Joan, do mine," says Ivy, throwing her axe in his direction. He just about catches it, narrowly avoiding the blade.
"You know, I'm not your slave, Ivy. I could leave at any time," he cries.
Ash rolls his eyes, "And then where would you be, Jo. You've said that every day and you're still here now."
"Well I mean it this time," he grumbles in reply but his cheeks have gone bright red.
"You say that every day too," adds Ivy, popping a cracker into her mouth.
Joan just flushes red again and returns utmost concentration onto his now incredibly razor-like blade. He looks up again when we hear the clunk. The sponsor package falls at my feet and they all stare at me.
"Open it," says Ivy, giving me a look of distrust and eying it suspiciously. I do open it though and it doesn't contain the doomsday device, but twelve fresh loaves that I acknowledge as the breads from districts ten, seven and twelve. We each take one to eat, saving the rest for later. I take a bite and am met with delicious warmth, like it has just come out of the oven. Images flash in my mind of my father baking in our home in the victor's village. I used to love helping him when I was young, less so as I got older but he still makes my birthday cake every year. I haven't cared much for birthdays since I was twelve because I knew that aging meant more names in the reaping ball. He still did it though because that's just who he is. Because he has loved me unconditionally every day of my life. I think of his last advice on the roof, how he told me only to kill if I have to, oh how well I followed that sentiment.
"Are you okay Iris?" I open my eyes to find Ash crouched in front of me, a concerned look on his face. I didn't even realise I was crying. I must have totally zoned out. I try to swallow up the tears and return to my look of indifference and half succeed but I'm so furious for crying in the first place that my anger causes the tears to continue.
"I'm fine," I lie, unconvincingly. His worry stays as he continues to look at me, Ivy has her eyebrow raised and Joan just ignores me, I get the feeling he doesn't like me.
"Perhaps we should all just get some sleep," he says, "I'll take first watch."
Suddenly I find myself sleeping with my protection in the hands of my competitors. I try to stay awake but with the warm fire and the shelter of the tent, I find myself drifting off to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing into the rock.