17th of May, Diary Entry #4
The arena has been rather quiet as of late. I haven't seen another tribute in over 24 hours. I still have no idea where the boy from 12 is. I know he isn't dead, his image never arrives at night. Still, I don't think he can make it alone. At the very least, I'm doing alright. The careers haven't found me ever since I stole that water jug, which I am thankful for. I still go back to the Reaping... When Megan threw her arms around me and wouldn't let go... I don't even want to think of how she'll be when I'm gone. Still, I have to stay focused. Today I'm going to travel East, or at least try. Direction is hard to tell in this jungle, and there are no real landmarks. I'll figure something out.
- Riley, M.
I closed my journal, and paused for a moment. The games were really starting to get to me. My dreams were filled with home, my parents, my sister, all my friends. They knew what my goal was... I had said I wouldn't be alive if I achieved it in my interview. Of course, they all know me well enough to know what I meant. At least they'll have my journal. If nothing else, they can remember my thoughts, and my experiences. I hope they can let me go. Sighing, I placed my journal back in my pack, and grabbed my bag of knives. The one knife I had set aside as my main weapon was clutched firmly in my right hand.
"Into the jungle I go..." I said calmly as I set out. Pushing away a branch, I stepped forward into a large batch of leaves, which were still green and healthy. If nothing else, they could be a replacement for my lantern if I needed it. But I wouldn't need it, at least not for a while. The humidity of the jungle beat down on me, making me sweat from both my palms, and my forehead. My body begged me to have some water, but I kept myself restrained. My water had to last, there was no natural water in these trees. They were capitol trees, freaks of nature, forced to do something... Not natural. All they had was sap, which was fine, but still... Some extra water would be nice. I sigh and shake my head, trying to get these thoughts out of my head. I looked up to the treeline, and see several birds flying around. The combination of blue, white, and red makes me smile, and I think about my previous encounters with birds. Back when I was camping. They helped me remain hopeful, spreading their wings no matter the conditions. They always pressed on... Even if it was raining. That's how I am I guess. Always trying to push forward. I look back to the jungle ahead of me, and see a large branch crossing over my path. I place my hand on the bark of the branch, and lower my head under the tree. As I begin to move my hand away, I notice a soft pain in my hand. I bring it up to my face, and see a small scrape. Not enough to bring any blood, but enough to let my body know.
"The trees must not like me." I said with a smile. I chuckled and shook my hand to get some air to the scrape, and then clutched it into a fist. Suddenly, there was a growling. My smile vanished, and I turned to the direction of the sound, holding my knife in front of me. I eased my breathing, and focused my hand to steady. One loaf of bread didn't really feed you very well, and I hadn't killed any animals yet. My body was admittedly much weaker than normal, to the point my hand was shaking slightly.
"Who's there?' I ask with a calm tone. Silence. For a moment I think I imagined it, but then the unknown creature growls again. I take my other hand, and flip open my bag of knives. I briefly look down to it, seeing my large assortment of knives. One was much smaller than the others, but was straight, and didn't have any fancy features. Hastily, I push the other knives aside, and grab it's hilt. The handle is about the size of the blade, and it fits into half of my hand. I hear another growl as I turn back to the sound, and go into a battle stance. This was a mutt. I knew it. It had to be. There couldn't be another explanation. Regular animals tried to avoid humans, wolves, bears, tigers, they never attacked first unless you were literally IN their den. This had to be a mutt.
"I'm not scared of you..." I say calmly. I hear a fierce roar, and that's when I see the claws. A strange, orange beast leaps out at me, roaring loudly. I grunt and slash with my knife, hitting it in it's leg. It lets out an infuriated cry and leaps at me again, this time pinning me to the ground. I groan as my head smacks onto the ground, luckily hitting leaves rather than a root. I growl and drive my knife into the beast's side, gaining a slight whimper. Quickly, I use my legs to push the beast off of me, and try to stand. I can already tell I'm bleeding from the small blood drop on one of the leaves, but I don't know where. I breathe heavily as I bring my remaining knife to my front, switching it over to my right hand. The beast growls at me, it's cold, black eyes staring at me with hatred. I exhale loudly, and await it's action. The beast stares at me a moment, trying to comprehend and understand me. If it's looking for a weakness, it may as well give up. I'm not afraid of any beast, not even one that's capitol made. The beast roars and charges at me, and I do the same. When I reach the beast, I try to stab it, but it somehow anticipates this. It slashes my knife hand with it's claw, causing me to shout in pain and drop the knife. It leaps onto me once more, forcing it's weight upon me. It stares at me hungrily, and opens it's mouth, quickly moving down to my neck. I shout and throw my hands up, grabbing the upper and lower parts of it's jaw. I struggle with the beast, keeping the beast's jaw wide open. I groan in defiance, and push the creature away from me, as it continues to thrash at my resistance. I roar in anger and kick the beast again, forcing it off of me. I breathe quickly, and look to my right. The knife I dropped is still there, shining in the scan amount of sunlight that breached the canopy. I grit my teeth and reach out to grab it, but the beast once again apprehends me. It drives it's claws into my back, forcing me to stop and scream in pain. Angrily, I reach to the extent of my arm, and grasp the tip of the blade which was closest to me. I thrash around, trying to keep myself from becoming easy prey. I finally turn the knife around to it's handle, and I take it firmly in my hand.
"Get off of me you abomination!" I shout as I turn and drive the knife into the creature's neck. It whimpers in pain, and thrashes away at my chest, causing more blood to escape my body. I shout angrily and kick it once more, sending it off of me. I try to stand, I'm out of breath, and can't breathe. I gasp heavily as the beast continues to whimper and give cries of pain. I angrily look up to it, and pull out another knife. I accidentally grabbed the blade rather than a handle, causing a sharp pain to erupt in my hand. Ignoring it, I roar one last time and throw the knife at the mutt, hitting it in it's head. Finally dead, it falls over on it's side, my first knife sticking out of it's side. I stay put for a moment and hang my head, panting heavily. I had just survived a mutt attack... But I felt like I couldn't move. Blood was pouring out of almost every spot in my body, and I felt a horrible exhaustion. I place my hand on my knees, and groan in pain as I force myself upwards. I limp over to the beast, and grab my knife. It's orange fur is tinted in blood, making it somewhat sticky when I pull my knife out of it's corpse.
"Worthless mutt..." I say, out of breath. I turn to continue in my journey, but I nearly collapse again. Whimpering, I throw out my arm and grab a branch as my legs fail me. I feel something down the corner of my eye, and I know it's a tear. I breathe heavily as I try to focus my vision on something. To get something else in my mind rather than the pain. I groan in pain as I imagine Megan, watching the games from home. Is she crying? Is she traumatized? Is she sitting there, whispering encouragements I'll never hear? I look up to the tree line, and stare into the trees. I know she's praying for me, hoping I'll come back. We both know I don't want to though. I can only imagine how much pain she feels. I close my eyes and grit my teeth as I force my body to stand. Leaning against the tree I used to get me up, I look into the boundless foliage ahead of me, and sigh. I groan in pain as I force my body forward, using the trees to keep my body up. Every touch leaves a blood stain on the bark of the wood, reminding me of just how badly I'm hurt.