Thanks for the reviews you guys! They are very much appreciated. I tried to make this chapter longer for you.
Their plan is unsurprisingly straightforward. They are all seriously lacking in the creativity department. Pretty much they're hunting tributes and anyone they find they will kill. I follow them back to their base camp, they will, according to their thoughts, rest for a bit then hunt at night. I sneak back to my own base camp to wait for Jared, careful not to leave any tracks.
Jared shows up just as the sun is setting.
"Did you find them?" he asks.
"Yep." I answer
"And?" He prompts.
"They tried to kill two tributes and failed. Their plan is to massacre any and all tributes. Pretty straight forward. I know where their camp is but I think it's best to avoid them till forced to deal with them." I explain.
"Oh." He says, "I didn't find them. There was some food left in the Cornucopia though." He drops a sack of bread.
"Jared! That was dangerous! The Cornucopia is in the middle of the open plateau! You could have been seen!" I scold him.
"Megan, in case you haven't noticed. We're in an arena with eleven other children that want us dead. Everything we do is dangerous." He says.
"Hmph. No need to be condescending." I huff. He rolls his eyes but he's smiling as he pulls me into a hug.
"Let's just lie low for a while." He concedes. We sit close together against the wall of the cave in such a way that we can see the opening but we wouldn't be immediately spotted if someone happened across our hideout. We hold hands but each of us have a free hand on a weapon. We stay that way till the anthem plays. There's two tributes in the sky tonight. District 10 and 12.
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
For five days we stay holed up in our cave, whispering to each other. We've been here a week and we are starting to run low on food. It's dangerous to leave though for fear of Districts 1 and 2. Both tributes from District 11 have bit the dust and although we can't say who killed them, Districts 1 and 2 are very high on our suspect list. It's not as if we can't defend ourselves but we'd rather not risk it.
It seems as if 1 and 2 like to hunt at night so we venture out during the day for food. We're on the west side of the mountain. We haven't explored any of the other mountains although we might have too. We aren't having much luck finding food.
We come around the side of a huge boulder and I have to yank Jared back. I put my hand around his mouth. I hear thoughts. The movement sends gravel down the mountainside. The thoughts wonder who it is and I try to place the voices in a panic. I realize the voices are Cleo and Jordan. They left District 1 back at their campsite. Cleo is coming to investigate. I can hear her voice. She's manically happy. She's hoping its tributes. Oh God I think, We're going to die. But that can't be right. It's two against two; we at least stand a chance. I ready my trident and give Jared a meaningful look. He grips his spear tighter.
Cleo rounds the corner of the boulder and shouts for Jordan, but it's a little late. I stab at her with my trident. Unfortunately I'm too far away and although she's bleeding and hurt she's not dead. She whips out a short sword and we start fighting. The cliff we're on isn't very wide and I'm scared of falling off but I have to focus on the task. I can read her mind and predict her movements so I counter every one. She starts to get frustrated. I'm so concentrated on her thoughts I don't even hear Jordan creep up from atop the boulder until it's too late. He has a bow and arrow. I miss the warning signs and I am unable to do anything about the arrow he fires directly at Jared. I feel my heart shatter as I see him lose his balance and fall of the edge with an arrow buried in his stomach. Something inside me snaps and I turn and viciously gut Cleo with my trident. The second cannon in 2 minutes fires. Two dead. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, partner for partner; but it's not even. Jordan didn't love Cleo like I loved Jared. He didn't have to watch his only love fall bleeding off a cliff.
Jordan is gone; he hightailed it out of here when I killed Cleo which is a very smart move on his part because when I find him, I will murder him and I will make sure he suffers, but not right now. He has two other kids backing him, one of them who will be supremely upset with me for killing his sweetheart. I start off down the mountain. Time to find out if there's food on the other mountains. I feel tears run down my cheeks, leaving trails through the dirt on my face. I let them go. Let the Capitol see, let the districts see. I want everybody to see what these games are doing. It's murder, murder of 23 children. The one who lives will be broken. The victor will live the rest of his life suffering in the lap of luxury. None of these kids deserve this. I stumble through the sparse vegetation. I need to find somewhere to sleep it's starting to get dark. I pick a tree as the anthem starts to play. I climb up through its thick branches and settle on one up high. I can see the faces now. First Cleo, then Jared. There are no names. Just faces and district numbers. It's like we're not even human. It's like they think we're animals.
A voice creeps into my head. I panic for a moment thinking I was hearing a tribute's thoughts before I recognize the voice. It's Jared. This doesn't make sense. I saw him die. And I saw his face in the sky as evidence. But I hear him, as if he was right here next to me. He sings to me and the tears start to flow again.
At the top of my lungs I'm singing you a song.
Don't you leave me alone.
My bones were shattered.
My pride lays shattered.
I'm falling more in love.
With every single word I withhold.
I'm falling more in love.
With every single word you say.
I'm falling head-over-heels for you again.
I don't believe this. It's not possible. I think I'm going crazy.
"Oh, Jared…" I moan holding my head in my hands. His body is broken and gone now. Taken away by Capitol workers to be cleaned up and sent home in a box. But then why can I still hear him? Is he really gone and this is my mind playing tricks on me or is this real?
"Shhh. Megan. Go to sleep. I'll keep watch." He says. I nod and try to get as comfortable as possible on my branch. I drift off to sleep. Before I know it I'm being woken up by Jared's voice.
"It's time to wake up, Megan. We need to get moving before it gets light enough for people to see you." He warns me. I look toward my destination. He's right. There's a wide open space I hadn't noticed between the two mountains. I guess I was too wound up yesterday to be observant. I climb down out of the tree and set off, my trident rested over my shoulder. I trek across the valley. My mind is open for thoughts but the only voice I hear is Jared's and my own. I look around nervously as I walk, trying to keep an eye out for unwelcome visitors. Jared whispers words of encouragement to me.
"You're doing great Megan. You're so strong. Just get to a hiding place in the mountains then you can rest." He says.
"But I don't feel strong." I say, "I'm weak and lonely here without you."
"You aren't alone, Megan. I promised I'd never leave you. You think I'm going to let a little thing like death stop me? I'll always be with you." He says.
"I love you." I whisper trying not to cry.
The sun is just now rising when I reach the foot of the mountain. I hurry into the shade of the evergreens, praying that I wasn't spotted crossing the valley.
"Hide." Jared tells me. His voice sounds urgent. I look around wildly for a place to take cover. There's a bush a couple feet away and I dive into it. Amazingly there's a hollowed out space inside. I couldn't see the place from where I was so hopefully no one will see me. I hear the racing thoughts before I hear the footfalls. Somebody is running. Make that three some bodies. The little girl from 5, Claire, is running from Justice and Bella. She bursts through the trees just ahead of them and whirls around throwing a knife. The knife hits Justice in the chest and he falls to the ground. Claire takes off running again and Bella lets out a grief strangled cry before running after her with brutally renewed determination.
I creep out of the bush and crawl over to the boy's side. He's gasping for breath and the knife is still lodged between his ribs. His eyes widen when he sees me.
"Shh." I whisper. I take his hand. I don't want him to die alone.
"Don't be scared." I tell him. "Everything will be alright. At least you get to escape now. You can go somewhere happy and be safe. No one can ever hurt you again." He's coughing up blood now but I can see in his eyes. He is grateful. He is hopeful. He feels better. I'm glad to know I made him feel better. He closes his eyes and takes one last shuddering breath before a cannon fires. I take the knife. It will be of more use to me than him now. I wipe it on the grass then slip it in my pocket and start hiking up the mountain diagonally away from the way Claire and Bella went.
"You did the right thing." Jared whispers. "His family is thankful that he didn't have to die alone. They want you to win. They want you to live."
"The world is such a bad place to live, Jared. But oh, I don't want to die." I say softly. Everyone in Panem probably thinks I'm talking to myself. I don't care. I don't live to please them. In fact, I'm sure my death would probably please quite a few of them. I sulk up the mountain and I'm pleasantly surprised when I find a river. This will be a good source of drinking water and hopefully there's fish. I use my knife to carve some bark out of a pine tree and begin making a fish hook. Soon enough I've not only made a fish hook but I found a stick to use as a pole and I tear a piece of fabric from my T-shirt to make a line. I spend the rest of the day fishing and am rewarded with 3 trout. Now the question is how to cook them. I guess I could eat them raw but I'm not too keen on that option, too much bacteria.
"Any ideas?" I ask Jared.
"We could salt it and dry it." He says.
"But I don't have any salt." I protest. Almost immediately after I say that a silver parachute floats down to me. I open the container to find salt. Well, perfect. I set to work salting the fish; when I'm done preparing it I set it out to dry. It's well into afternoon now and I'm not sure what else to do while I wait for the fish to dry. I sit up in a tree and watch the fish to make sure no animal or tribute steals it. There are no thoughts in my area of the arena. I feel incredibly lonely even with Jared's voice sometimes talking to me in my head.
The rest of the day passes uneventfully and before I know it the anthem is playing. Justice and Claire are shown in the sky tonight. I guess Bella caught up with her. I try to remember whose left. There are only four others. Bella, Adeline, Anthony and Jordan. That's nineteen dead. I'm a lot closer to getting home then I thought I was. This thought comforts me as I drift off to sleep in my tree, Jared singing in my head.
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life
Tributes are dying fast. I'm not sure how long I can drag out this story. By the way the two songs in here are "My Beautiful Rescue" by This Providence and "Meant to Live" by Switchfoot. Just incase you were wondering.