Huzzah! After a year of nothing I've finally updated the story! I hope everyone who stuck around to read it and also any new readers enjoy.
I don't own anything in the Hunger Games- not the books, the new movie or Suzanne Collins herself.
Anyways, I hope you like it! Please tell me how to improve or any faults you find that I can change. I'd love to hear you opinions!
KATNISS POV
After some time spent running, Crist lets Prim down.
"Can you jog with me?" he asks.
"I can try," Prim says, and they start jogging farther away from the Cornucopia. Her right arm is completely covered in dried blood, and the right side of her jumpsuit has a darker tint than the rest of the dark green. Prim and Crist have to dodge the vines and trees that keep laying traps for them as they jog, so it seems to take them almost double the effort to get as far away as possible. Training for a while before the actual Games is becoming an even better decision as time goes on.
It appears the battle at the Cornucopia has ended, and thirteen canon shots ring out. My eyes leave Crist's television screen for the general one, and I can see the Career victors hacking away at the foliage surrounding the horn. I look a little harder and realize that they've been trying to clear the same bits of land over and over. The greenery just keeps growing back, until the strong, short victor from District 1 says something.
"Just spray it with this! You're wasting time!" he yells, and he throws a black spray bottle to the female victor from District 2.
The District 2 girl catches the bottle but says nothing as she starts spraying the vines with the chemical. Nothing happens, so she starts hacking away again, but the spray must work for this purpose only because nothing grows back. After she clears her section of land, she tosses her bottle back to the District 1 boy, apparently named Nican. "Here, Nican!" she says.
Nican takes the bottle, clears his land and gives it to Pine, the District 11 tribute. I'm a little surprised to see Pine with the Careers, but I don't worry about it too much. Enemies are enemies no matter who they team up with.
I look back to Crist's screen and see they've stopped moving. They're sitting on a fallen log, and Crist is trying to bandage Prim's arm.
"No, no, I can do this myself," Prim says, and tries to get Crist to step back.
"You can heal others, but only when you've got two hands," Crist replies.
"Let me at least help your cheek!" Prim whines, and Crist just shakes his head. He manages to clean up her cut, which looks a little more manageable when blood isn't oozing out of it. He bandages it, and tells Prim that she can take care of his face.
"This might sting a little," Prim says, as she puts some kind of cream on his own cut. Crist winces, and the scene reminds me of Peeta's and my time in the cave the year before. Except neither Prim nor Crist are starving or near death. It's too early in the Games for that.
Prim finishes her first aid, and the two stand and start jogging again. Prim has the bow and arrows and the first aid kit; Crist has the knives, water bottles and spear. Apparently the bottles are empty, like the one I had in the beginning of the Games. My mind flashes back to the thirst I felt last year, almost giving up because I couldn't find any water. In this jungle setting, I can see some clouds hovering over the arena, so maybe the water will just find Prim and Crist as it falls as rain.
I look at the general Games screen and see that the view is focused on the male tribute from District 4. He's an old guy, who looks to be around 65 or 70. He probably owes his old age to him being a victor, because without all that money I'm sure he would have had a difficult time reaching that age. The tribute looks to be hiding himself in the foliage; sort of what Peeta did when he was in his mud bank. He's positioning himself on the ground so you can't see any part of his body except for the edge of a sharp sword he's got covered in the moist dirt. Well, okay. I guess he doesn't have as much energy as the younger tributes, so he has to let his prey come to him. I'm not too worried about Prim and Crist though, since they've been moving in the opposite direction for almost an hour.
The screen switches to focus on the tributes from District 6 and 8. The female from 6 must be in her 30s, as well as the male from the same district. District 8 has a rather old female but young male tribute, who could pass for being only 25 years old. They must be forming an alliance because they're all shaking hands…but District 6 is behaving strangely. The two won't stop shaking hands? Oh, wait. I vaguely remember the two having won the Games in years close together, then falling in love. There's no way I'm going to fall in love with Crist or any other male tribute in the following years, so I'm probably safe from the hordes of reporters wanting to get the inside story on such a development. At least the unique turnout from Peeta's and my love story has simmered down to a point where we get on a little more, if not the same amount of coverage as all the other past victors.
The tributes from 6 and 8 start heading their own way away from the Cornucopia, so I look back at Crist's screen and realize it has already started to rain. Well, a better way to describe the water falling from the sky would be a light drizzle. Prim and Crist take some leaves off surrounding trees, find a wide patch of large-leafed plants and take cover, leaving their smaller, saucer-shaped leaves out to collect water.
I walk to the male District 12 mentor room. Peeta and Haymitch are watching the screens intently. What could be so interesting? I pull a chair next to Peeta and sit down. I worry that they're not far enough away from the Cornucopia and all of the other tributes, when I notice that the general screen has turned to Prim and Crist. The bloodbath ended a while ago, so the cameras have been struggling to find something interesting to report on. I can't imagine why watching two kids sit under some plants could possibly be exciting to the viewers when I hear a strange voice speak.
"If you're trying to get away from everyone else, you'd probably want to run farther than this." Crist is standing now, completely blowing his cover. His spear is ready to throw, and he's looking from side to side like a crazy man. We didn't really teach him what to do with another tribute; we only focused on making them strong. I hope this doesn't hurt him right now.
Prim, at least, as the sense to stay below the leaves but still arm her bow. Could she really do it? Could she kill someone she's never met and walk away as the hovercraft carries the body away? Prim, the girl who couldn't kill a squirrel. Just how much have I missed in the past years I've been detached from her life?
"Seriously, you should really think about running farther," the voice says again.
"If you haven't killed us by now, you must want something," says Crist.
The voice laughs. I'm not with them so I can't tell what direction the person is speaking from. It sounds like a man, though, and he reminds me of Haymitch.
"I guess you're right," the man says, and jumps down from the tree he was hiding in. I'm surprised he was able to climb up it. The trunk looks so smooth, with only vines climbing up the tree. Prim looks surprised, too, but must reach the same conclusion as me: he just used the vines to pull himself up. It's entirely possible, considering how small the guy is. He might be about 40 years old, but he's still shorter than Peeta. Short brown hair, squinty eyes, short arms, short legs. He's carrying a wooden stick with a spiked sphere at one end, and he has a dark brown backpack on his back. I remember him being from District 7.
"I want an alliance," the man says simply. Crist looks surprised. I can't really tell what kind of face Prim is wearing.
Crist speaks. "Why would you want an alliance with us?" Prim stands up, although her bow isn't drawn.
"Well, you guys are young and you, boy, look strong. What else can I say? I need some help but I'm still pretty good with this mace here," the man says, and swings around his 'mace,' throwing it in the air and showing off his skills. He seems pretty sleazy to me, and I hope Crist and Prim don't accept his offer.
Prim has been staring straight at the man, but her eyes focus on a point in some vines a few yards away. I figure out my mentees have been ambushed a second after Prim. "Run!" I scream, even though the only ones who can hear me are Peeta and Haymitch. Prim yells Crist's name, and he looks confused for a moment. He seems to see or hear something going on in that vine bush and the two take off running. Crist turns around for a moment, most likely trying to hit the District 7 man with his spear, but the man is gone. There's a girl chasing them, though, and she's fast. A name goes through my mind. Johanna Mason, a young woman who won her Games by pretending to be weak and then obliterating the competition. She's got an axe in her hand, and I'm really dreading the moment she decides to throw it. Crist throws his spear at her, managing to hit the arm she holds her axe in. The axe falls to the ground, along with Johanna's right arm. Such a gruesome sight, but at least I know why the general camera has been focused on this change in events.
Prim and Crist keep running, but no one knows where the guy from District 7 is. A terrible thought runs through me. I hope he sneaks up behind the two, because Prim is in the lead. If someone has to get hurt, I don't want it to be my little sister. I look at Peeta, hoping he didn't somehow read my mind. He raises an eyebrow at me, then looks back at the screen, morphing his face into a concerned mentor or older brother, I don't know.
District 7 jumps in front of Prim. My fears come to life, but Prim somehow dodges the mace thrown at her, gets a good grip on her bow and shoots the man through the stomach. Wow. She must have really improved her reflexes during those training months. "Is the other one dead?" she yells to Crist.
"I don't know, but I got her arm off," replies Crist. "She's definitely not following us, not with all the blood she's losing."
Prim retrieves the arrow from the man's stomach. How is she able to make someone cry out in pain without blinking an eye? A canon fires. The man is still groaning on the ground. Was Crist's wound on Johanna enough to make her die this quickly?
Prim looks at the man, then back at Crist. "Let's just get out of here," she says.
"Yeah. But first…can we agree to not make any allies here?" asks Crist. Prim nods assent.
"That guy gave us a pretty good piece of advice, to get farther away. I'm sure Katniss would have told us the same thing," says Prim. She's right about that. The farther from the other tributes, the better. The general screen focuses on some other tributes, and Crist's screen shows the two jogging away again, virtually unscathed from this battle.
I look at Peeta, too shocked to comment on anything. "Shall we go get some food?" he asks, and I nod. Haymitch is just sitting in his chair, but when Peeta asks if he wants to join us he shakes his head. Maybe this battle sparked some flashback to his Games.
Peeta shrugs, and takes my hand. He leads me down to a dining room and there we start discussing our siblings.