I walk slowly. We're in no hurry, after all. Aya isn't exactly the fastest, either, right now, but she decided she could probably manage to walk a bit. I'll admit I was starting to feel a bit restless, after staying in the same place for days, so I am glad to be on the move again. We're slowly making our way up towards a sort of castle ruins, though I have a bad feeling about that. I suppose I think there might be other tributes there already. It's a landmark in the vast arena. There might be something interesting there.
We're getting close, when I trip. I slam, face down, into the ground. I groan, but I'm fairly unhurt I think. I'm about to get up again, when I look to my left.
I scream. I can't help it. To my left, waiting in the undergrowth - rats. Hundreds of rats with beady red eyes, staring hungrily. I scramble up, brushing down my grazed hands and knees. The other two look at me, confused.
"Run," I whisper to them. I look at Aya. She can't exactly run. "Okay... go as quickly and quietly as you can."
As we walk, as fast as we can go, I still shake. I feel like I can hear a rustling around me, behind me, as the rats swarm about us, and I constantly wonder why they don't attack. I quietly explain to Aya and Brandi what I saw, and they realise why I've suddenly become so scared. I feel like those rats will haunt me forever, until my dying moments, however soon that may be. I just silently pray it isn't death by rat.
We get quickly closer to the castle, but it freaks me out. I'm probably just feeling especially paranoid. But I can't shake off the feeling, just like I can't get rid of that horrible feeling after seeing those rats, so we skirt past it, and keep walking.
I honestly don't want to stop walking. I know I'll never sleep, and I'm so afraid that if we stop, the rats will catch us, but finally we have to. Aya looks ready to faint, and I really am tired. I just feel so jumpy, and my skin crawls every few seconds as the image I've been trying to push away comes back up.
We settle down among the trees. I volunteer to watch, seeing as I know I'll never sleep anyway, and climb high up into a tree.