Here's chapter five. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.
"Get up, lazy."
"Five more minutes, Rowan."
"We're moving camp."
When I open my eyes I find, not Rowan, but Ash stood there eating my squirrel.
"Sorry, it's good meat," he says through a mouth full.
"It's fine," I mutter and pull myself off the ground. My legs and feet are numb and my entire body aches from spending the night on the floor. I shake off the leaves and dirt that got on me in the night and drink the last drops of water I have. When I turn around, Ash hands me a bowl of meat and a fresh bottle of water.
"Thanks," I say and take them from him, stuffing chunks into my mouth. The meat is actually cooked from the fire and tastes good.
"Joan got the meat," Ash tells me, "District Ten: Livestock. He enjoys killing animals a little too much really."
I snicker at this comment. Joan does seem the type to take pleasure in chopping up pigs. I wonder how much he enjoys chopping up people.
"Why are you allies with Joan?" I blurt out.
"Well, we just kind of ran into him after the bloodbath," he says quietly, "We had a lot of supplies and I didn't really want to kill him so I thought why not?"
"Oh."
We stand awkwardly for a moment before Ivy comes in and tells us to quit talking and pack up. As it turns out, the others have a lot more things than me and I'm packed up way before they are. I offer to carry one of the tents but Ash turns me down, saying he'll do it and I should carry less and guard as we walk with my bow.
It takes some time but eventually we are ready and begin to tread through the woods. As told, I walk ahead, looking around and occasionally killing a few animals. Though there are no disturbances, I keep my bow loaded at all times in case Sapphire decides to make an appearance. After several hours of walking, Ivy demands we stop for lunch, claiming to be hungry but her dreadful limp suggests otherwise.
We sit in a small clearing and eat the rest of my kills. No one says anything for a while and the silence becomes so uncomfortable that I stand up and leave, saying we need more food just in case. I don't mention the piles of stuff from the cornucopia but I just need some time alone.
"Be careful," says Ash.
"Yeah, and don't go too far or Ash'll have a panic attack," chips in Ivy. Ash replies by punching her playfully on the arm.
I head out with a loaded bow and wander around for a few minutes until I realise that I'm really not in the mood for hunting. Rather than going back to camp, I pass the time by throwing my knives at nearby trees because, hey, a little showing off never hurt anyone. I am rewarded by a large sponsor gift that I decide to open back at the camp. When it falls, I get distracted and my knife flies off past a tree. I pick up the gift and go to retrieve it. It is lodged in the ground right by a stream. Ignoring my weapon, I go straight to the water and clean my face and hands. I didn't notice how many cuts were on me until now and they sting slightly as they are submerged in water but it's a good pain. I reckon if we were to follow the stream down then we would find a good site like maybe a cave or something.
I'm about to go get the others when I see it. Stood a few meters away is a creature that seems to resemble a wolf but quite larger. It is sniffing at some sort of plant and I'm surprised it hasn't spotted me yet. My mind screams at me to get up and run before it sees me but whether it's fear or the strange fact that I am somewhat compelled toward the creature, I stay crouched on the ground. I know this thing is not a real animal and so that can mean only one thing: Gamemakers. That would explain why there is something very unnerving about it that I can't place my finger on. Suddenly, somewhere in my confused mind, two and two are put together and what with the yellowish coat and grey eyes I don't know how I didn't see it before.
"Rowan."
The creature turns to me, growling.
"Rowan, it's okay, it's me, Iris."
The snarling intensifies as "Rowan" advances toward me. What did they do to him? How dare they? I continue to attempt to reason with the beast but this is not my brother any more.
"Rowan, stop," I plead as he persists stalking me like prey, "It's me, Iris. Stop!"
The creature is now right in front of me and angry as ever but I know that Rowan is in there somewhere and he would never hurt me.
"Stop it, Rowan. You wouldn't hurt me. Stop!"
All attempts to keep calm are failing miserably and I'm almost shouting. It stops in front of me as though he can recognise me. I slowly reach out with my hand. All I want is to calm him, to stop him from ripping my throat out, to destroy who did this to him. I turn away but still look at him from the corner of my eye, hoping he will recognise me in his animal mind.
I see what he is about to do just on time. My hand is pulled away just as he goes to bite it with his sharp teeth. I turn and run. The creature follows me. I have a second's head start but it's hot on my heels with its four, powerful legs. How could I have been so stupid? I know where these wolves come from: the 74th Hunger Games. There is less now but the affect is the same. Terror spreads through my body and it's all I can do not to shake with fear. I concentrate on making it back to the clearing where Ash and Ivy are waiting with their axes to kill it with.
"ASH!" I scream into the woods.
"IRIS?" comes the reply to my left. I try to run the general direction of Ash and Ivy's shouts, running faster than I have ever run in my life. I come to a patch of familiar trees and I know where I am. I burst through into the clearing where the three stand with weapons in hand.
"What is it?" bellows Ash.
"Mutt," I pant. It's then that the wolf crashes through the trees, howling ear-splittingly loud. Ivy shoves me onto the floor behind her and throws herself at the mutation with her axe. Ash and Joan follow her and attack it from all angles. A part of me is screaming for them to stop but I know that that thing is not Rowan and it never was.
Blood is splattering everywhere as the three hack it to pieces. I watch as the creature lets out one final anguished howl and the light fades slowly from its eyes. Rowan's eyes. My allies collapse exhausted on the ground, covered in blood and gasping for breath.
"Are you ok?" asks Ash through breaths.
"I'm fine," I lie, "I found a stream nearby, you should clean up."
Minutes later, we pack up and leave to the stream I found. It takes longer to get there this time because we're all still washed out from the attack and Ivy's leg isn't helping either. We make it there at about midday and sit for ages just scrubbing ourselves clean of dirt and blood. I catch a glimpse of something in the water and it takes a moment for me to realise that it's my reflection. In my defence, I look nothing like me. My hair is matted with leaves tangled into the dark mess. My face is still covered in dirt and scratches, despite all of the washing. My clothes are filthy too and my t-shirt is splattered in blood. My eyes have changed too somehow. They look tougher, less kind, dangerous: I have the eyes of a killer.
I get up and turn away in disgust. "I'm gonna go and find that sponsor package," I say.
"You got a sponsor package and you left it here?" says Ivy accusingly.
"Yeah, well I was a bit preoccupied with the giant wolf-mutt trying to kill me," I snap back.
"Fine. Just try not to bring any more back," she shrugs.
I make off into the woods, clutching my knife handle so hard that my knuckles turn white. Eventually I come to the area where I got the gift and begin searching the area. The ground is muddy here and it's not long before I make out my own footprints and the massive paws of the mutt imprinted in the ground. After searching for any signs of the package I notice another set of prints. These are distinctly human and too small to be mine. Another tribute must have come and taken it while I was escaping the mutt. I doubt that the prints belong to the careers but there's still the district eleven girl and she could be working with them. It's too dangerous to go alone so I decide to head back to the others. I arrive back at the other end of the stream a few minutes later.
"What?" ask Ash when I return.
"Someone has the package; I think it's the girl from eleven."
Ash and Ivy both stand up immediately, grabbing their weapons.
"Joan, stay here," commands Ivy. Joan mutters something that sounds like a curse word under his breath to which Ash responds "That's the spirit."
We set off, following the footprints through the forest. It becomes increasingly difficult as we get to more dry land but I manage. I'm glad that I have them with me now because the odds are that I won't have to kill the girl but the odds have a tendency to be against me nowadays.
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