Part XII
Faith slashed and cut and parried. She had no idea how long it lasted. She was in fighting mode, nothing could get her out of it.
-x-
Jasper shifted from foot to foot, watching as all the others raced off towards the Cornucopia. He hesitated, before slowly making his way over. Jasper wanted to avoid the inevitable bloodbath, but still get a handful of supplies. He slipped quietly in amongst the crowd, dodging blows and falling corpses, before snagging a small bag and a bit of rope. Jasper stumbled as another dying tribute fell against him, flailing their knife around feebly. Thinking quickly, he kicked the boy in the face, before plucking the knife out of his hand. Turning tail, Jasper ran for the mountains in the distance.
Why the mountains? Jasper figured that everyone else would head for the trees, where there was more cover. At least if he was high up enough, he'd be able to see people coming.
-x-
Faith continued fighting, not thinking about anything anymore. She sent a slice down a tributes arm, without looking to see who it was she moved to her next target, sword raised.
-x-
After dodging knifes, axes and sometimes other tributes, Summer was on her way out of the bloodshed. She spotted a knife lying right before her feet; she decided to take it in a rush before anyone else considered killing her.
She was out of breath when she reached the forest, still, she risked looking back to see if anyone was following her trail. Summer's eyes saw something too bloody and real, something that has always seemed so fake when on TV...She saw the horrors that would stay with her forever: The dead, ripped bodies of people that could have been her friends if not for the Capitol and its filthy, bloodthirsty Games. A silent tear broke away from her wide opened eyes before she continued running, thinking of the tributes and their kills.
-x-
Faith narrowly dodged a knife, and sent one of her own in their direction. She didn't bother to check if it hit its mark, instead she leaped at a few more tributes
-x-
Acacia tripped over her own feet finally and landed heavily on the floor. She sighed. As soon as she'd reached the forest she hadn't slowed. At all. She was too exhausted to get up. She lay face down on the floor until she finally got the will to climb back to her feet and begin to jog ahead
-x-
Summer kept looking behind her whilst running, that was until she ran into another girl. Acacia jumped and turned, her eyes wide with fear.
"Woooooooooooowwwwww! Ouch!" Summer exclaimed feeling the impact of the fall, "I'm sooo sorrryyyyy! I'm always this clumsy..." That was her initial response, the one she always used every day of her life...her normal life, the one outside the Games.
Acacia blinked. "They'll hear you!" She said in a hushed whisper, looking around crazily. She realized she'd backed into a tree.
Summer blinked before whispering back, "Sorry, I usually use that excuse if I fall on top of someone by accident. Please don't stab me."
Acacia smiled faintly before remembering she was in the games, her face washed from any emotion and she looked at her hand tightly wrapped around a knife, then back at the girl. She couldn't do it.
Summer saw the girl's hand tighten around her knife; she swallowed hard and took a step back, "You know, you shouldn't do this." Her voice wavered, "And even if you're about to, promise me that you won't rip me apart like all those Careers would...just...I dunno."
Acacia blinked "I couldn't... I mean, defence." She loosened her grip on the knife and shuddered.
-x-
Cat kept moving, dabbing at her face, trying to put as much distance between herself and the other tributes. However, she managed to walk into a clearing where two other girls were already standing.
-x-
"Oh...good. My names Summer, what's yours?" She breathed a sigh of relief.
Acacia blinked at the kindness, and remembered she'd remained an emotionless for a whole week. She gave up and shoed her true self. She smiled for once."Acacia."
Cat, nervously started backing away from the two girls, but she stepped on a twig, which cracked loudly under her foot.
Summer was immediately alerted, her head snapped towards the sound. Cat turned to run, but her weak ankle caught on some thorns, and she stumbled and fell with a cry. Acacia stood frozen, her hand clenching her knife again.
"Ssssshhhhh!"Summer whispered urgently, stepping quietly to the girl's aid.
Cat leapt to her feet, ignoring the pain shooting through her leg. Acacia wasn't sure what to do. Maybe she should run...
Cat looked suspiciously at Summer. She didn't want to hurt anyone unless she was attacked...
Realisation hit Summer once more and she remembered that the Games were real, and she was in them. She jumped back, away from the injured tribute girl.
Acacia should run, she knew that, but instead she froze, fear shaking through her.
Cat stood absolutely still, waiting to see if the girl would attack. It had almost seemed for a moment, as if the girl had been trying to help her...
Summer was never good when it came to silences, even if the silences were full of fear and wide eyes, "Um...Don't hurt me?"
"You think I could hurt you!" Cat said, looking at her in amazement.
"Well, I definitely wouldn't kill anyone, so, yeah." Summer felt embarrassed.
"I should run, shouldn't I?"
"Probably." she agreed.
Acacia couldn't help but laughed lightly, not mockingly, but because of the strange tension. She nervously walked forward.
Cat paused, and began to walk forward too.
Summer looked down, "So, erm, good luck with the Games I guess. By the way, what is your name? I already know Acacia's...I'm just curious about yours."
Acacia rolled on the ball of her feet, she wanted to run and leave, but couldn't.
"I'm Cat," Cat said, "What's your name?"
"Summer." Summer smiled.
Acacia wasn't sure what was happening. This was the games... and they were just talking... Summer scratched her head.
Cat stepped forwards and held out her hand. She felt a little intimidated that both of the other girls were at least a foot taller than her. The other girl suspiciously shook it. Cat stepped back, smiling. She noticed the girls suspicion, and with a laugh that sounded almost like a sob she said "Don't worry; I think you could probably beat me in a fight."
Summer managed to laugh a little, "So, Cat, do you want to be like...allies?"
Cat looked at her, eyes narrowed. Faith would be kinda annoyed... "Well...I kinda generally work alone..."
"Oh..." Summer was kind of upset, "That's alright I guess...Acacia, how about you?"
Acacia blinked. "An alliance?"
"Yes, an alliance. I personally hate being alone...but it's alright if you don't want an alliance with me...I mean, who would?"
Acacia hesitated for a second before smiling and nodding, holding out her hand
"Hello there." Summer smiled, shaking her hand while urging her to go on.
"It's not that I don't want too..." Cat said, feeling terrible, looking up at Summer with earnest eyes. "It's just that...well, I'd only slow you down! Plus, loads of people want to kill me."
Summer stared at Cat for a moment, "Then we should be moving! And getting a head start!" She grabbed Cat's arm and started jogging.
Cat ran too, her backpack bouncing up and down on her back. She hissed a little as her ankle twinged.
Acacia smiled brightly and followed.
Summer couldn't help but feel the sense of accomplishment as her both allies ran together with her. She was never good at anything that involved the Games or survival of any kind, but that didn't mean she couldn't do other, more important things."Are you okay Cat? Do you have any medicine or anything for your leg?" she asked, her eyes trailing the small backpack she was holding in her own hands.
"It's fine. It's just a sprain." Cat said, panting. "I'll tie something round it for support when we stop."
Acacia slipped her knife in her belt, looking around them. Summer nodded, putting one of Cat's arms around her shoulders for support. And I'll check what's in this bag when we stop...
Acacia fell to the back, behind them so she could defend them if attacked. Cat spat hair out of her mouth, gasping for breath. Summer looked desperately around for a good campsite, "Cat, your obviously very weak and tired, we have to stop..."
"I'm fine!" Cat protested.
"No, seriously, look at your leg..." Summer panted, staring in horror at Cat's leg.
Acacia looked down at Cat's leg. Cat looked down at her leg.
"I must have caught it on something..." she said, looking dubiously at the large thorns sticking out of it.
"C'mon, sit down." Summer steered Cat to a nearby rock.
Acacia kneeled down. "This might hurt..." She said, pulling the largest thorn out before she could respond.
Cat let out a hiss of pain, but managed not to scream.
Acacia rifled through her back pack, finding a medical pack and taking one pulled of the bandages from it, she pulled the rest of the thorns out and bandages her leg
"I'll check what's in this backpack, might be something useful!" Summer said, unzipping the backpack to find...
Cat sat there, her eyes watering, as the girl bandaged up her leg. Why did they have to be nice to me? How could I ever kill them now? I couldn't. Catherine, you fool! You know you get too emotional...A tear crept down her cheek, which was not from the pain.
Summer pulled out a radio. "Oh wow, I didn't know they gave out radios..." Summer examined the radio carefully.
Cat reached down for her bag, and Orchids. She began to go through them. Acacia took out the contents of her pack, a medical kit, extra pair of socks, a pack of dried fruit and a torch
"Cool..." Cat said distractedly. A sleeping bag, water, a knife, food, socks, some kind of sunglasses... she put them on. "These don't work." she said, sadly.
"Radio?" Acacia asked, "Wow."
Summer was totally transfixed by the radio, she looked up to see Cat struggling with the glasses. Summer passed the radio to Acacia before snatching the glasses away from Cat, "These aren't normal sunglasses..."
Cat jumped at the glasses were snatched away. "What-" she gasped in shock.
Acacia looked around for anyone else and turned the radio on, wandering what stations it would play. Cat recovered from her shock, and slid the knife inside her boot.
"These are night-vision glasses, very useful. I can use wonderful instead, to be a little more fancy." Summer put them on, looking around all the dark spots of the forest.
"That's cool!" Cat said, resuming the search through the bags. Acacia was fiddling with the radio, trying to find something. Summer messed around with the night-vision glasses for a while. Cat found another knife and slid it into her other boot. She slipped her two remaining ones up her sleeves. Acacia slipped her two knives into her belt and stood, repacking her bag. Summer felt a little bare with only one weapon and a useless radio that wasn't even in her hand. Acacia passed her the radio back, biting her lip.
"Thanks" Summer said thankfully. She pressed some buttons, trying to communicate with anyone.
Cat stuck yet another knife into her belt. She found some string, and started to tie the knives to her arms; not too loose they'd fall out, but not too tight she couldn't pull them out quickly. She found another knife. "Summer, do you want this?" she asked.
Acacia recognized some berries nearby, so filled one of her large clean spare socks with them, stripping a few of the bushes to suck the juices from as well. She smiled, recognizing them from her district. Cat stood up, testing her weight on her leg. It held. She began to walk around the camp, trying to stop it from seizing up.
"Uhm." Summer nodded, switching the radio off after an unsuccessful attempt at communication with the outside world. "We should go hunting or at least set up some snares..."
-x-
Aurora pulled to a stop, panting heavily. As she put a hand against a tree to steady herself, her eyes scanned the area warily for any possible attackers.
Her gaze fell on a figure slumped up against a bush, and her eyes widened in panic. She quietly began to walk backwards, wincing as she stepped on a branch that gave through with a loud 'crack'. However, the sound was completely inaudible over the sudden fire of a cannon. Gaining courage, she began to walk towards the figure. Her face drained of all colour, faced with the sight before her. A large gash, still seeping blood, reached across the boy's neck. She quickly felt for a pulse, but it was too late. His eyes were fixed and glassy- it had been his cannon that had fired.
Aurora reached out and gently closed his eyes over- a lump suddenly formed in her throat. She recognized him- he had spent a lot of time at the climbing station, back in training. She knew that, had he lived, he would have been the first she would ask to be an ally.
She could see a hovercraft making its way through the trees- she recalled suddenly that the area needed to be clear of all live tributes before the body was taken. And besides, who knew how close the boy's attacker was? They must have been in a hurry- his rucksack was still fully intact, the seal left unbroken on it. He hadn't even had the chance to use it. She carefully slipped the straps of the rucksack from his back, feeling a twinge of guilt as she did so. "I'm sorry," she whispered. But right now, she needed it more than he did.
-x-
Acacia came back with both the spare socks full with the berries and a pile scooped in her hands. She put the socks both down and bit into her small pile one by one
Cat looked up as she came back. "Is there a stream or something nearby?"
"I haven't found one..." She bit her lip and passed her some berries. "But I found these."
"Thanks." Cat said taking the berries. She rolled one between her fingers, wondering if it was safe to eat. Acacia popped some in her mouth to show they were edible. Cat did the same, after seeing Acacia. They tasted alright actually.
Acacia smiled. "They have them in my district."
"Thanks." Cat said, eating another berry.
-x-
Aurora walked quickly away from the clearing, only turning back to look as the hovercraft reached down to collect the boy. A cannon fired from somewhere in the distance, and the hovercraft turned away, towards the sound of the noise.
Aurora wondered what horrible things the people given the jobs of collecting the bodies must have done. Avoxes, perhaps? She shook her head quickly to dispel the thought- she had more important things for her thoughts to dwell on.
The first matter of importance, she quickly remembered, was to find a water source. No matter how varied the arena was, there was almost always a stream or two. She turned towards the mountainous part of the terrain- streams almost always had their sources in higher ground. She continued walking for a few more minutes, until a set of voices caused her to stop in her tracks.
She caught sight of the young girl that one of the deadlier-looking tributes, Faith, had seemed to adopt as a sort of pet back in training- was it possible that she was part of the Career pack? Not wanting to take any chances, she decided to climb up into the partial safety a tree offered until the voices had passed.
-x-
Jasper huffed as he sat on a rock half way up a slope, looking out on the rest of the arena. He felt like he was the only one in the entire world. Gazing out, Jasper guessed that everyone had headed for the forest after all. Feeling somewhat exposed sitting on the side of a mountain, Jasper looked around and found a convenient cave nearby. He headed in. It was small, but good enough.
Tipping out the contents of his bag, Jasper found an empty water bottle, a thin piece of wire and a silky piece of material. On closer inspection, it looked like one of those heat reflecting sleeping bags. Jasper noted with a frown that it was rather thin. Oh well, better to be warm on rocky ground, than to freeze to death on the first night. He sighed, and looked around his empty cave. This would be home for the next few days.
He'd never been lonelier in his life.