Hi guys!
Thanks for sticking with me this long - and thanks for all the reviews! I'm impressed with the turn out!
Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. Maybe a bit gory? Not as bad as the last one, I promise!
*In the Blink of an Eye
Charm Penlum, District One
I am just waking up from the uncomfortable position in the stunted tree when I see the parachute. It sits proudly in the branches above me. But... but I haven't even done anything to gain sponsors. I'm the quiet, mildly skilled One girl who won't kill other people. The cuckoo in the nest.
Oh well. A sponsor gift is a sponsor gift. Before anyone else comes along to take my gift, I swing up the tree. The branches seem stable, but just in case, I test each branch before trusting it with my life. After a few near misses with rotten wood, I manage to reach the silver pot. Already excited, I click open the clasp and it reveals a package. Placing the parachute and case in my lap, I unwrap the paper and find a small feast. All for me!
Sliced oranges, ten crackers, a rich yellow cheese and a knife to cut it with. The knife actually looks quite sharp, so I decide to keep it to defend myself with. Of course, I won't intend to cause any severe damage, but to save my life, I'd risk a few cuts and scratches on the attacker. I figure the easiest way to carry the parachute is to sling the cords over my chest on a slant and put the gifts back in the case. That way, it will almost be like a shoulder bag.
It is also time to move. My tactic is to move around and make sure I have no contact with the other tributes until the last possible moment. Wait - before I go! I almost forgot to say thankyou! Eager to find a position where the cameras can easily find my face, I mouth a large pronounced 'thank you' through a threadbare area in the tree.
Then I begin heading towards the ground. I feel the way with my foot and if the branch seems stable enough, I stand on it, and move my arms down, keeping close to the trunk where the branches are strongest. This method seems to be working well until I step on a seemingly solid branch. Suddenly, I am moving towards the ground much faster than I'd like.
Something stops me. A burning line of pressure, centred around the base of my skull. I scream, as if it would help. I scrabble wildly for a handhold or foothold. I can't see below me, as my head is wrenched back as far as it will go. My vision dims. And just like that, the thing is gone and I am descending to earth once more.
I hit the floor with a crunch. I groan in pain, but nothing seems broken. Good thing I wasn't too high when I fell. What was it that stopped me falling? I feel the raw area on the back of my neck. That's when I realise something is missing. My token. The only trace of home I have left. My beautiful flute tied onto a string and knotted around my neck.
It must have caught on a twig or uneven part of the trunk, I think as I scour the ground around the base of the tree. And the knot or the string must have broken, which is why I plummeted to the ground. After five futile minutes, I realise that the flute has not succumbed to the force of gravity. Therefore, it is still up there.
Do I want to put my life on the line once more? What is more important: my safety, or a flute? I know the answer. I start climbing the tree again.
Priya Pendus, District Two
"Anumus!?" I scream up the mountain. "Where are you? Who was that cannon for? Was it Domitrius?"
Nothing answers me, but the call of the breeze. I quickly wipe away a small tear. Hay fever. It's only hay fever, I tell myself. You don't care about Anumus that much.
I'm exposed and without a decent weapon, but I have my reputation and my close-combat skill. I should be fine, if everyone has some sense. The mountain towers above me, an infinite landscape full of places where Anumus could be hiding.
I start by the stream. The most obvious, but on the other hand, the least obvious to a tactical person. I don't have to run far before I see the skid marks and the blood stains. "Anumus!" I cry again.
A lingering groan answers me. "Anumus! Are you hurt?" I call. I can start to make out a shape upstream by about 100 yards. A body perhaps? But not dead yet. When I reach the body, the ground is slick with a clear jelly marbled with red blood. And there, behind the person. A head. A white nub of bone protruding from the ragged gore of the previously neck. Redness staining the rocks. Whatever did this was not human. I can't see the face. I don't want to.
Instead, I turn over the body in front of me. What greets my eyes is something I don't want to see. "Domitrius," I hiss. He gurgles. Then moans. I don't know what to do. Obviously, Anumus is dead, and I spare no lingering thought for him. But do I kill Domitrius? One less competitor to deal with. But still?
As if to answer the turmoil in my head, a parachute floats down from the sky. I leap onto the goodies. Cracking open the case with barely suppressed delight, I find a first aid kit.
Clean linen bandages, a few tubes of antiseptic and medicine, and some scissors. I sit there for a second, shocked by the contents. Then I turn to Domitrius, lying prone on the floor. I stay like that for a minute or so. Then I stand. And throw the gift onto the ground.
No, NO, NO! The last 'no' I scream at the sky. I must not form attachments to tributes. I move in for the kill.