I slowly approached the entrance nearest the house, almost entranced by it.
"No," Peeta said, grabbing my arm roughly. "We don't know what's out there. Remember all those noises we heard last night?"
"That's not all that's new," Clove said, pointing into the woods. "I found a small shack that definitely wasn't there before. It's filled with weapons- knives, swords, bow and arrows, clubs. You name it, it looks like it's in there."
"Well let's grab some weapons and see what's out there," I replied, frustrated.
I was tired of being boxed in and a chance to explore beyond the walls excited me.
"Do you even know how to handle a weapon?" Peeta asked.
"Let's go find out," Cato said, motioning to Clove to lead the way.
We followed her past large oaks and swaying willows until a small, wooden structure appeared wedged in front of the intersection of two walls. Its wood was cracked and graying and it appeared to be quiet old.
"The door practically fell off when I opened it," Clove said, kicking at warped door lying on the ground. She gestured us inside.
The shack had no windows and it took several moments before my eyes adjusted to the darkness. The inside was lined wall to wall with metal and wooden weapons. They hung from hooks dug into the ceiling and walls, swaying slightly from the wind blowing through the door. I saw a dozen swords of varying length, one that looked taller than me; knives was displayed in a fan-like arrangement under the swords. Cato emitted a loud curse when his head collided with a club hanging upside-down from the rafters.
My attention was suddenly drawn to a silver bow and a leather quiver of arrows. I picked up the bow and tested the tension on the string.
"You sure you're not going to be gouging your own eyes out with that?" Cato teased, smirking.
In response, I whipped out an arrow and notched it on the bow, pointing it inches away from his still grinning head. The shack was so small, my elbow brushed a leather shield hung on the wall.
"Want to test it?" I replied playfully.
"Ok easy there," he laughed, pulling the longest sword off its hook. "I do think it's best if we get acclimated with our weapons before we have to use them."
Clove picked up a set of knives and, almost without thought, stuck each of them methodically through her belt.
"Peeta?" Cato asked, cocking an eyebrow when he made no move toward the weapons.
"I think I'll stay and make breakfast for the rest of the group," he said. "I don't think I'm qualified to use any of those."
"Suit yourself," Cato shrugged.
As Cato and Clove walked off to the side to practice with their knives and sword, I strung an arrow again onto the bow and pointed the tip at a knot in a nearby tree. Inhale. Aim. Exhale. Fire.
I hit the center of the knot.
"Not bad," Clove muttered from several feet away. "Remind me never to piss you off."
"Are we ready to go?" I asked.
"Yeah," Cato replied. "Looks like we're as familiar with these as you are with yours. Makes our situation even stranger, doesn't it?"
Humming in assent, I led the way to the nearest gap in the wall. Looking out, a giant slab of ivy covered wall sat about 10 feet away, running parallel to the walls we stood between. It ended abruptly and another wall continued several feet past it, eventually turning sharply and disappearing around the corner.
"Geez, how are we supposed to navigate this thing?" Clove asked breathlessly.
"Slowly, for now," Cato replied, leading us forward. "Keep your eyes open. Remember that thing we heard last night."
"Wait, we need to be able to find our way back here," I warned. "If we get lost out there, we may never find our way back."
"Good point," Cato murmured. "What do you suggest?"
"The ivy," I replied. "We can lay a trail of ivy down behind us as we go. Cut some down."
Nodding, Cato and Clove set to work, chopping at the ivy covering the walls. Peeta came to stand beside me, his arms folded and forehead furled.
"I don't like you going out there," he muttered. "What if something happens? How will we know if you've hurt yourselves or worse?"
"That guy said that we had to find the clues to get us out of here," I replied. "I'm willing to bet that they can be found out in the Maze."
"Tell the others to stay put," Cato instructed Peeta. "We don't need anyone else going into this right now. There's still plenty to do around the clearing so keep them occupied with something."
Nodding, Peeta stepped back, away from the entrance to the Maze.
"I'll expect you guys back by lunch," he stated.
"Definitely," I replied, Cato and Clove agreeing as well. "See you when we get back."
The three of us set off slowly to our left, dropping a section of ivy every few feet to mark our progress.
"Keep your guard up, girls," Cato muttered, sword at the ready. "There's something out here and I wouldn't want it to catch us unawares."
We crept forward carefully, weapons at the ready. My arms soon grew tired from holding the bow up with an arrow strung but I kept fresh in my mind the sound of the unknown that moved through the maze. Its shrieks still sent chills down my back. However, after 2 hours in the maze and accidentally doubling back several times on our own trail, we didn't find any sign of a sentinel or even the outskirts of the maze.
"Let's head back, guys," Clove suggested, patting her stomach.
"Ok," Cato agreed, hesitating slightly. "But I want to come back out again for longer. I have a feeling we aren't anywhere near the end of this maze."
I silently agreed with Cato in that the Maze seemed endless. We had been walking in as straight a line as we could away from the entrance for hours. The only thing we saw were endless ivy covered walls and several times we noticed a silver bug-like creature, about the size of my hand, skittering after us, hiding in the ivy when it was caught spying.
When we finally came back to the entrance to our clearing, Peeta waved us down, his face pale.
"What's wrong?" I asked, running toward him, Cato and Clove closely following.
"I couldn't stop them," he replied, breathless. "A group of them saw that the Maze was opened and were determined to go in. They've been gone for a couple of hours now and we have no clue where or how to find them."
"We should organize a search party-" I began before Cato cut me off.
"No, you've been out there," he argued. "You saw how it was out there. It's nearly impossible for us to follow them. We don't even have any assurance that they stuck together. What if they're scattered out there?"
"Do you suggest we just leave them and hope they come back?" I demanded, outraged.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," Cato replied grimly. "Look I'm not happy about it either, but there's nothing we can do for them. They made their own choice. We'll just have to hope they found some way to mark their progress. Who went?"
"10 of them, both numbers 4, 6, 7, 9, and the boys with 5 and 8," Peeta said. "They woke up this morning and saw that the walls had opened. I told them that you were out exploring it and that they should stay put, but they pushed past me and vanished."
"Well we'll just have to see if they do come back," Cato sighed, running a hand through his hair. He stabbed the ground angrily with the point of his sword, causing it to sink a good 6 inches deep.
"If?" a small voice asked quietly.
I quickly turned and spotted Rue, who had crept up on our conversation unnoticed.
"Yes, Rue, if," Cato replied quietly, bending down to look Rue in the eye. "Their fate is out of our hands right now. Let's just hope they were as smart as we were about being in a foreign place."
"Well, there's still enough lunch left for the 3 of you if you're hungry," Peeta said, jaw clenched.
As the others walked back to the house, I grabbed Peeta's arm and held him back.
"Are you ok?" I asked, my hand still resting on his elbow.
"I don't like this," he replied, brow furrowed. "I still think we should try to go after them. They're one of us; we're all stuck here and we need to look out for each other."
"Look let's just see what happens," I said. "Maybe they'll be back soon. If they're not back by dinner, I'll talk to Cato about going out to look for them. He's not a bad guy you know. I'm sure he's worried too but he's right. We can't risk more of us to look for them now. They made their choice."
"You're right," he conceded, rubbing his forehead. "It was their choice. I just hope nothing happens to them."
"So do I," I replied, smiling up at him. "Now what about that lunch?"
Laughing lightly, Peeta briefly put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed. Blushing, I led the way back to the kitchen where Cato had managed to make a huge mess of the leftover lunch. While he and Peeta, outraged at the clutter, pretended to wrestle on the hardwood floor over who had to clean the smeared egg salad and fruit, Clove and I munched on our sandwiches.
"What's going on?" Glenn asked, casually strolling into the kitchen and eying the two shouting boys with amusement.
"Apparently, Peeta is very protective of his kitchen," Rue giggled.
"Any word on the ones that went into the Maze?" Becca asked.
"Nothing so far," I said. "Cato wants to wait to see if they come back on their own before going out ourselves to look for them."
"I say leave them out there on their own," Glenn said, frowning. "If they want to go out on their own and satisfy their curiosity, let them go."
"We'll see what happens," Cato panted, spread eagle on the floor while Peeta leaned against a wall next to him. "If they're not back by nightfall, then we'll form a new plan. Meanwhile, there are things to be done here."
"Yeah, like you'd be much help now," Glenn snorted.
We spent the rest of the day occupied with chores and I assisted Peeta again with dinner. He made enough for 24 instead of 14 just in case the stray group found their way back. I constantly checked the window to see if I could spot them returning, but my hopes sank as the sunlight dimmed. Surely they'd make camp outside the walls if they were caught there at night.
"I think the bread should be-" Peeta muttered before being interrupted by a rumbling and grinding outside.
Exchanging panicked looks, we ran outside and met the rest of our group as we stared in horror. The gaps in the walls were closing. Peeta ran to the nearest, grabbing the sword that Cato had left near the entrance.
"Wait what are you doing?" I yelled as I sprinted after him.
"We have to stop the gates from closing!" he replied frantically trying to shove the sword into the ground and bracing it against the rapidly closing walls.
"Get back!" Cato shouted as he ran past me, tackling Peeta to the ground in time to prevent him from being trapped between the two sliding walls. "Have you got nuts?"
"They're trapped out there now!" Peeta bellowed as he struggled against Cato's harsh grip, their wrestling genuine and desperate this time.
"And what did you hope to accomplish by getting yourself killed?" Cato demanded. He finally managed to pin Peeta's arms behind him and sat on his back. "They're out there. They're on their own, at least until morning. When the gates open again, we'll go find them. I promise you."
"Fine," muttered Peeta into the grass. He shot up immediately after Cato released him, brushing dirt off his jacket and pants. "We should have gone out for them earlier."
"Yeah and then we'd all be trapped outside the walls," Clove retorted. "You think that'd be better?"
Peeta fell silent, staring at the seamless wall that showed no signs of having been opened just moments ago.
"First light, we'll go out looking for them, Peeta," Clove said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Alright," Peeta replied. "Well, the food's probably burnt by now."
Our dinner was silent and tense that night, all our thoughts on the 10 kids outside in the Maze. My stomach turned when I thought of the creatures that were out there with them.
"Katniss?"
"Huh?" I looked up and saw Peeta looking at me with concern.
"Are you done?" he asked. "Newton wants to clear the table and the rest of us are going outside to see if there's a way to get on top of the wall to see if we can see the others."
I realized that everyone had already left the table and the cleaners were staring at me impatiently. I smiled apologetically and followed Peeta outside.
Cato had already begun climbing the wall and was about 6 feet up when he yelped.
"What's wrong?" Clove shouted up at him, craning her neck to see.
"A spider's up here and it's attacking my hands," he grunted, swiping at them.
I heard it moving around among the leaves of the ivy and spotted the tell-tale red eye flitting above Cato. I grabbed a rock off the ground and threw it, hitting the spider square on its body. I heard it emit a quiet, angry shriek before scuttling off.
"Thanks," Cato sighed, looking down at us. "Keep those rocks handy in case it comes back."
Grunting, he managed to get halfway up the wall before the skittering sound of the metal spiders returned, this time in larger numbers. Dozens of red eyes appeared from both directions along the wall and converged above Cato's head. He eyed them warily.
"Cato, I think it's best if you get down," Peeta warned anxiously. "I don't know what those things are capable of but it's obvious they don't want us up there."
"Alright, alright," Cato conceded. "I'm getting down. You happy now?" He glared at the spiders, still staring down at him, before climbing down quickly, dropping to the ground when he was close.
"Well they're definitely on their own until the gates reopen, hopefully when the sun rises again," he said, breathing heavily.
"We'll still keep the watch," Marvel said, nodding to Glimmer. "You guys look like you could use some rest."
"No I'm-"
"No, Cato, you're not fine," Glimmer retorted. "Your face is smudged with dirt and you have leaves in your hair. You could use a hot shower and some sleep to get nice and pretty again."
She grinned at him and winked. Cato simply snorted and stalked into the house, slamming the door.
"Who the hell made him our leader?" the 9 boy grumbled.
"Are you going to challenge him?" Marvel asked, eyebrow raised dubiously. He sneered when he received no reply and ordered him back into the house to prepare for bed. The boy turned just as he got to the door and opened his mouth to shout back.
"You-"
He was interrupted by a chorus of mechanical clicks, shrieks, and whirring, sounding fairly far from us. It was identical, but fainter, to the sound we heard last night. We ran quickly toward the noise and I pressed a hand against the ivy.
"What the hell is that?" Marvel asked breathlessly.
"It's what we heard last night," Peeta muttered. "You think it found the others?"
As the words left his mouth, terrified screaming erupted from beyond the Wall, followed by a recurrence of the mechanical noises. Suddenly, one of the creatures passed just on the other side of our wall, causing all of us to jump back hastily. The ground rumbled and shook as it approached and it shrieked as it rounded a corner and headed away from us.
"We have to get back in the house," Glimmer shouted urgently.
"You really think that's going to help us if one of those things decides to climb the wall?" Marvel retorted.
I heard shuffling to my left and quickly turned, fists at the ready. It was Peeta, climbing up the ivy determinedly.
"Peeta, get down from there!" I screamed. "Those beetles-"
"What are they going to do?" he shouted down, still climbing. "I need to see what's going on. Maybe we can throw them some weapons or even get them over the Wall if they're close."
He hadn't climbed more than 2 feet before a loud BOOM shook the entire area, knocking him off the Wall. It was quickly followed by another, and another, and another, and another. 7 in all that I counted. I glanced back at the house and saw the windows trembling. Cato had come running out of the house, followed by the rest of our group, wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist after the second boom and Marvel quickly filled them in.
"Seven explosions," he muttered. "What does that mean? Did they set off some kind of booby-trap?"
"Guys get over here!" Thresh shouted urgently, eyes wide and staring high into the sky. He stood about 20 feet behind the rest of us.
I quickly ran with the group toward him and gasped. A hole in the dark sky had opened, a hole blacker than the night sky and completely devoid of stars. A large claw-like contraption dropped down and disappeared from view behind the Wall.
"What-" Newton began before he was quickly hushed.
"Wait," Cato whispered, tense.
I grasped Peeta's hand as the claw rose up past the Wall, a small, limp body in its clutches. It was too dark and too far to make out details but the figure in its grip was clearly human, and it was clearly dead. Its head and limbs flopped limply as the claw receded back into the sky, only to reappear. Six more times it dipped down and each time, an unmoving human form was lifted. Peeta's grip on my hand became tighter and more painful with each body but it was a grip I reciprocated.
They were dead. They had been killed. Whoever was behind these "Games" was killing us. They were allowing us to die, horribly. All hopes that this was a benevolent Game vanished from my mind and horror seeped in instead.
Rue let out a pitiful sob as the last body was lifted into the sky and the hole seamlessly disappeared. I released Peeta's hand and drew her tiny body into a tight embrace.
"It's alright, Rue," I whispered, planting a soft kiss on her dark head.
"They were out farther than we got this morning," Cato said tonelessly. "We probably wouldn't have found them without being trapped ourselves. Bed. Everyone."
For Rue's sake, I led the way back to the house, Marvel and Glimmer staying outside to keep the watch. Rue slept that night in my bed again, snuggled close to me. Twice more that night, cannons rocked the house, though the sound was more muted than outside. Rue simply stirred at each explosion but did not wake. I could not sleep. My mind kept turning over and over the thought that whoever had put us in here had left us to die. They had put us in here perhaps for that sole purpose. We were all going to die. That was the Game. The audience got to watch us die.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I had thought I had published this chapter months ago but apparently not... Reviews are very much appreciated!