I immediately spit out the water. I wipe my tongue of the toxic water and run to find a stream. After I rinse my mouth I find myself very thirsty. I gulp down water and find myself gasping for breath. I lie on the floor in defeat as Gale comes to sit next to me. "Are you alright?" he asks repeatedly but I'm too tired for words so I just nod my head. We sit there until I regain my energy.
I prop myself up on one elbow and look to the fence ahead. "Are you ready to move on?" asks Gale. "Yeah," I say getting up completely. We walk to the fence rather slowly. The tall barrier is silent when we lean our ears close to it and we start to walk along side of the fence trying to find an entry. Once we find one we slip under and take in the scene of district four, it looks almost normal.
The districts we've been to have either been too calm or too chaotic but so far, so good. We sneak through the hard working town and our stomachs growl. I try to think of the last thing we ate, the apples. I look up at the sky which is pitch-black and my eyelids start to feel heavy. I hear Gale yawn next to me and I'm more desperate to get to the other side of the district. "We need to get out soon I'm so tired," I whisper to gale as we tread through the town.
We can see the fence now; it's so close, yet so far away. We reach the fence and check to make sure no one is watching then we silently slip through an opening.
The sight of the forest automatically calms me. We find a bush of blueberries and eat them in silence. We also find a peaceful stream to quench our thirst not too far from the berries. Some place in between the water and the food we make shelter. That night we recover from the horror of the day and prepare for the horror of tomorrow. We just need to get past three then we'll be there, in district two.