Let the Hunger Games begin!
Chapter Eight
From an outsider's perspective1, it would appear twenty-four children were standing in the middle of a field, all facing a large, metal object filled with camping supplies. A race, at the worst, at first glance.
But then you would notice that the twenty-four children are all wearing identical clothing. And that the large, metal object is also contains something that looks dangerously pointy. Many things that look dangerously pointy, in fact. You would also note the mind numbing preciseness of the measurements taken. They're so evenly spaced, it hurts. The children's expressions show raw determination, not so much as to win as to not lose. When they say, I would kill to win the Hunger Games, they don't mean it in a metaphorical sense.
An alarm sounds, and the children take off. Some of them run away, some of them run towards the metal object, but either way, the quickest survive. There is bloodshed, and many of the children die. You ask, why? Why are they killing each other? There is no answer, because there is no reason. That's why it's so horrifying.
Madge was one of the children who made a mad dash for the large metal object (Cornucopia). On her way, she noticed a knife lying on the ground. She briefly wondered if she would get to keep it if she won the hunger games.
A young girl had grabbed a jacket and she had started to run. Madge stabbed her with her knife and took it. She decided that was enough for now, and started to run into the woods. When she was almost there, an arrow caught her in the ankle and she sprawled forward. She pulled it out and limped into the woods.
She sat on a rock by a stream. Somebody was coming after her; she could hear him or her. She wasn't starting out so good.
Are you seriously going to die in the first ten minutes? She asked herself. What weapons did she have? A knife and the arrow. The arrow was pretty much useless without a bow, but she still didn't throw it away. She also had a jacket (not a weapon). It was a standard zip-up with a hood and two pockets. Che checked the pockets. There was nothing in the left, but in the right there was a small plastic bag with a single pill in it. It was labeled Nightlock. The pill had a small 13 pressed into it. She put it back in the pocket.
The mystery person emerged in front of her. She was carrying a bow and had a sheath containing five arrows slung across her back. Madge realized she was as good as dead and snapped the arrow in her hand.
As far as Madge could tell, the bow and arrows was the only thing this person had gotten from the Cornucopia. She was clearly not a Career, and looked about fifteen. She pulled back the arrow.
Run, Madge! Where? She could jump up and tackle the girl. Or she could throw her knife.
Madge threw her knife. It fell short.
She tried tackling her. She jumped onto her and they hit the ground, the arrow flying harmlessly into the forest. Madge was now on top of the girl, but the girl was stronger than her and they rolled over. Madge noticed she had a gaping wound in her right shoulder.
The girl was trying to get an arrow from her sheath. She had four left. Madge dug her fingers into her shoulder wound. The girl yanked her arm forward to twist Madge's fingers away. Madge felt a pain in her ankle and realized the girl had stepped on her wound. She drew back in agony, giving the girl a chance to take an arrow from her sheath.
She targeted Madge's face, but Madge caught her hand. The arrow grazed the side of her face and stuck into the ground. The girl reached into her sheath for another arrow. Madge pulled the old one out of the ground and stabbed the girl in the eye. She screamed and clamped her hand over her eye. Madge shoved her off of her and grabbed her jacket and knife from where it lay on the ground. She didn't have time to get the sheath or the bow, but she managed to get two of the arrows from the sheath. She ran into the forest. The girl had one arrow left.
She stopped running and turned around. The girl was still following her. Madge saw her come out of the forest. She had running down the side of her face. She aimed the arrow, but it missed and grazed Madge's arm. The girl appeared to realize she was out of weapons. Madge tried throwing her knife again. This time, it hit the girl in the chest and knocked her over. Blood flowed across her shirt and she closed her eyes. Madge was aware of a canon being blown. She took the sheath, her knife, and the bow from the corpse and sat down.
Madge surveyed her injuries. She had an arrow wound in her left heel that was pretty deep, and shallow cuts on her face and arm. She used her knife to cut some fabric off the top of the sheath and wrap it around her heel. The arm and face wounds didn't need wrapping right now, she decided. She had four arrows, but no idea how to use a bow. She put the jacket on and slung the sheath across her back. She was next to a stream, but she had nothing to carry water in.
Hold on. She did have something. She took out the small Nightlock bag. She could put water in there, but what would she do with the pill? Madge knew that Nightlock was a poisonous kid of berry, so the pill was probably deadly. If she could get into her enemies' water supply, she could poison them, but this was unlikely considering that it would probably be guarded and booby-trapped. She also had a nagging sensation that this was not what the pill was meant to be used for.
She decided to leave the pill in there for the time being and stay there for the rest of the day. Madge was also getting hungry, but she could find food tomorrow. This was the Hunger Games, after all.
Madge splashed her face in the stream. She wanted to take a bath, but she didn't want to go to bed soaking wet. She put her knife in the sheath with the arrows and laid the bow beside it. She looked for food in the immediate area, but couldn't find any. Eventually, it got dark, and the dead tributes faces flashed in the sky. Madge counted 13, which meant there were still ten out there hunting her. Madge was glad Peeta wasn't in the death count.
She took off the jack and laid it on top of her like a blanket. She put the sheath under her head like a pillow, and kept the knife and the bow next to her. She put the Nightlock in the sheath. She closed her eyes. She was scared to go to sleep, because she was outside, it was dark, and there were a lot of animal sounds, not to mention the people trying to kill her. Still, her pain and exhaustion won out, and eventually she drifted off.
The next two chapters are also going to be Hunger Games.
1 You better hope that's how you're seeing it.