Celina 10
I woke up with a start, I had spent the night reliving the time without my parents. The day after, the week after, the month after when I finally realised I had to get over them. It hurt like hell, but I tried to forget them…wait…Something felt different.
I sat up, ripping my coat off as the day was already scorching. Cactuses surrounded me for about 500m in every direction. So that's what that rumbling was. I almost fainted in joy; every cactus had at least 5 water bugs on. I approached the nearest cactus, and lightly plucked an iridescent insect from the cactus, and popped it in my mouth. It burst open, and sweet water filled my mouth. I drank all of the bugs from 3 cactuses before I noticed that they almost seemed to be suckered onto the plants. I closely inspected the next one, and they seemed to be feeding on the cactuses.
That made sense suddenly. I knew cactuses contained lots of water, and bugs would normally be food. Just as the way the sky was orange, and the sand was blue, I decided that nothing I knew before could be trusted. Everything was wrong, all of my knowledge counted for nothing. I ripped off a hunk of cactus, yelping as the spikes lodged into my skin. I dropped the cactus, and it stuck to my hand for a second before it fell to the sand, where it immediately disintegrated. I poked the cactus that I ripped the piece off, and a hole the shape of my finger was left in place. Hmmph.
I captured plenty of water bugs, and wrapped them up carefully in the many pairs of socks I had with me. I placed them tentatively in my coat pockets, and tied it around my waist again. This was one thing I could not afford to lose.
I trekked up the sand dune, hacking off pieces of cactus with my weapon as I went. I knew it had to be significant; I just had to figure out how to eat it. I tried before, but it just disappeared like candy melts on my tongue. I only had them once when I visited the Capitol when I was younger after my parents died.
Before I had gotten out of the cactus patch, I heard a cannon boom. Looks like either the careers have started hunting, or someone has fallen prey to the sudden temperature change. I was drenched in sweat and treading carefully, trying not to trip over the cactus roots. I sucked on a water bug, and tried to figure out what to do. I decided to send a message out to the Capitol.
"I know you think I silly and weak, but trust me," Here I smiled wickedly; "I'm lethal." With that, I swung my morning star, and an entire cactus burst into dust. To be honest, I was surprised how cool it looked, and I could see the small chunks of cactus almost sizzling as they hit the warm sand. I looked down at them, and they seemed to be melting together. I picked one up, and popped it in my mouth. It was mushy and didn't taste that nice, but it was food, and I was hungry. My throat started to hurt, but I just thought it was from dehydration. I wondered how many people had realised that the cactus was edible.
"Oh, and Ferrero," I knew the cameras would be on me, "I said I wanted water. Without it, I will go insane, and no-one wants a crazy victor!" I winked and started carefully cutting up my cactus into tiny pieces, and setting them down on the sand to cook. I waited for a few minutes, and then turned them over.
After a luxurious meal of cactus and water bugs, making sure to replenish my supplies of both afterwards, I left the cactus patch in search of a good situation in which I could show off my fighting skills.
A bit later, whilst sucking on a bug, I sat down on top of the tallest sand dune I had found, and realised that the jumpsuit was preventing my skin from burning. The material was thin and light, but had obviously been treated.
The sand started to jump around my feet, and I stood up, weapon at the ready. The sand dune collapsed, knocking over with wave after wave of sand. It got in my eyes, nose and mouth, so all I could do was clutch my weapon, close my eyes, and hold my breath.
When I was able to stand up again, I brushed the sand away from my eyes, and gasped when I saw what took the sand dunes place. A giant crab, at least twice my height squatted clicking its wicked looking claws. It was exactly the same colour as the sand, and that gave it an ethereal look. I knew it was there, and I could almost not see it when it stood still.
The claws were the only thing that gave it away. They flashed against the bright light, and looked like shiny silver blades. I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed the uncooked cactus from my torn coat, and threw it at the mutt. It immediately turned to dust, and covered up the shimmering blue armour of the horrible beast.
I was speechless. There was armour everywhere, but I was a fisherman, and had been catching crabs all my life.
"A crab against the girl from 4?" I asked the game makers mockingly, "I thought this was supposed to be hard!" I laughed and slowly took my coat off, not wanting to be caught off guard. The crab was still clicking its claws, but slower now.
If it was like a proper crab, I knew how to kill it quickly and easily. There! I saw the small flap on the underneath of the crab, and looked around for something to drive under it. I decided to try and slice one of the claws off.
I darted towards the crab, which immediately sprung up, and started slashing at me with its claws. Bright flashes stunned me as the claws reflected the bright orange sky.
"Aargh!" I screamed as one of the razor sharp claws cut my arm, slicing my jumpsuit and I saw red blood blossom on the white material. I clutched my right arm, that was my attacking arm, and I had a very weak swing on my left. I swung my morning star trying to catch the beady eyes, and finally one speared the eye, ripping it off.
"Ew!" I squealed as a fountain of emerald blood burst out from all of the gashes I had conflicted. It sizzled on my right arm, and I quickly inspected it. It seemed to be repairing itself, and tendrils of skin crawled across as they knitted together. It made me feel sick to see my flesh literally crawling, so I focused on the mutt again.
My right arm felt so much better, so I transferred my weapon back, and ran to the crab, which seemed to be disorientated, and standing still, clicking its claws slowly.
I lightly climbed onto its back and quickly took out its other eye. I slid down the huge arm, and held on for dear life as I hacked at the claw.
The armour was almost impossible to penetrate, and the blood finally bubbled through it just healed it again…
I climbed up to the top of the arm, and started lightly hitting it, not to damage, just to agitate.
I waited until the other claw was just about to strike, and then dropped to the sand, covering my head. The entire arm fell centimetres away from me, and the claw tip grazed my face, leaving a sizeable gash. I reluctantly doused my face in the blood leaking from the jagged torn flesh of the crab, grimacing at the smell.
I screamed, the crab was advancing, how did it know where I was? A metallic scream emanated from the crab, and I realised the eyes had come back. I wasn't surprised, the eyes bled the most. Quickly, I grabbed the arm, but couldn't even lift it. I lay on top of the claw, and decided to use the same technique. I could see the other claw coming down at an alarming rate, and I almost gave up and ran. I stayed though, rolling out at the last minute, but catching the claw on the back of my leg.
I roared in agony, but crawled towards the severed claw, which was cracked in two. The looked just like swords now. I drenched my stained jumpsuit in the green blood, and waited until I could walk again before grabbing the surprisingly light claw half, and sprinted towards the mutt.
I found the flap, and plunged the claw deep into the crab's body. I moved it through the crab's body until it found the other side. I flicked the claw up the shell, and screamed as I got drenched in the crabs blood. I quickly stopped and closed my mouth as the foul tasting blood entered my mouth.
Actually, it didn't taste foul; it tasted sweet and slightly spicy. The aftertaste was much like the cactus, bitter and dry.