Chapter 11
In the catacombs, I'm pacing around, shaking my hands, and blabbering on about something I'm not even following.
"Esmerelda," Tigris says impatiently, while I keep talking about how, eventually, I might kill myself by running into a tree. I see her tail flick. "Esmerelda," she says more sternly.
"Huh?" I say weakly.
"Calm down, you're not going to do well if you're talking all the time," she says, laughing only a little.
I start rambling again. "But that's just it what if I start talking to no one in the middle of the night, and someone hears, and comes to kill me and I keep talking and he starts going insane, like me, I'm insane at this point-"
Tigris interrupts me, "Esmerelda, it's normal to be nervous. You're not going to go insane."
"But what about that one tribute-"
"That's your problem. This isn't the other Hunger Games that came before you. This is the last Hunger Games. Don't live in past games. And you are not another tribute. You are Esmerelda Snow. Granddaughter of President Snow. Everyone's expecting you to live up to his name. You live down the reputation Snow has given that name."
"But what if I become a mass murderer just like that one-"
"No," she purrs sternly, "you are not just like that one tribute. You are like Esmerelda. Convince yourself!"
"But what if I can't," I whisper, my voice quivering.
"Don't focus on the past or the future, focus on what's happening now."
As if on cue, a box arrives. It's my outfit for the games. My only outfit. Wow. I'm really worried about that right now?
Tigris helps me get dressed in a black tank top with brown cargo pants made of material that looks like what those people who do research by lava wear, held up by a black belt. And then there's a matching jacket that I tie around my waist. I wear boots that have thick soles, and material like the pants and jacket. Plus black gloves with my fingertips showing. Tigris puts my hair up and a sloppy bun, getting the stray hairs out of my face. I hug her. I see her tail flick, but she hugs me back.
"You'll do great," she purrs.
I let go, still shaking. I go to the glass cylinder and step on. The glass surrounds me. I feel it closing in. I breathe in and out as the cylinder lifts me to the top. As I'm pushed into the area, I feel immediately warm. The light is dim, but not so bad as we can't see. I look at all the tributes. They're all here. Mercury's at the edge of the group, and Telly's around the middle, two spots right of me. Then I use as long as I can to get a feel of my surroundings. In front of me, it's mostly made of rock. The rock then changes, a little farther forward, to dirt that sprouts trees. Behind me, I see a pool of lava. Well, that puts a downer on my plan. I look at Mercury. He motions with his head to go behind him, the right of me. I look at Telly, and pass the message. As I hear the thirty second mark, and the countdown. I look at the supplies in the Cornucopia. I spot two bags right next to each other, hopefully, they're stocked with supplies. Then, at the fifteen second mark, I see the girl next to me start swaying back and forth. What's she doing? I think nervously. To my horror, she falls off the pedestal. An explosion rocks the arena. I jump and lose my balance. I regain it, just before I fall. I feel blood, and… chunks on me. I almost lose my breakfast. They hold the countdown, and clean her up. Then restart at the thirty second mark. I'm shaking even more. The first death before the games even started. I try to focus. "Ten, nine, eight, seven…"
I take a deep breath. What my vocal coach used to say, In with the good, out with the bad. "Three, two." A loud buzzer sounds. I race towards the two packs. I make it safely. Sling one each shoulder, and start racing towards the woods. Then I see a fist. I duck just in time. It's Balthazar Millea. I try to keep running, but he grabs onto my leg. I trip and fall. He laughs at me. I twist around and get up just before he stomps on my back. I punch him in the face, kick him in the gut and keep running. I pass one more bag, grab it, and run.
When I think I'm out of range of most of the tributes, I throw up. Stress, nerves, and getting people chunks will do that to you. Then, I start looking for Telly. The backpacks start weighing like bricks.
"Esmerelda," I hear.
I jump and turn toward the person. It's Telly.
"Oh, gosh, Telly," I drop the bags and hug her. "I'm glad you're safe." I take two bags. "Can you take the other one for me? Let's go find Mercury."
She grabs the third bag and follows me as I start looking through the woods. It was mostly made of pine trees. I look cautiously through the forest. No sign of Mercury. What if he died? No, don't think that way, I think, He's just caught up in a battle or something.
We look around for a few more minutes. Then I say, "Hey, Telly, how about we stay here for about an hour, and then if Mercury doesn't show up, we go look at the Cornucopia."
She nods. We settle down by some trees. I begin to look through the bags. The first one contains a bottle of water, some bandages, and a few crackers. Decent supplies for bag number one! I think, thrying to keep my spirits up by making some wort of game by counting suplies. In the second bag, I find a sleeping bag, bags of crackers, some squashed berries, and a dart blower, complete with darts. Pretty good supplies for bag number two! The last bag has two bottles of water, a sleeping bag, some iodine, some matches, beef strips, peanuts, and soap. Oh my gosh soap! I can wash myself! I split up the supplies so we all have a good amount of supplies if we're separated. I get to keep the soap. I give the dart blower to Telly; she sticks it in her belt. After that's done, I keep small talk with Telly while I wait for a good hour. When I feel the time is right, I tell Telly we should go. We creep through the woods, until we walk up to the Cornucopia. Apparently, they haven't collected the bodies yet. I see one, with shaggy light brown hair, lean and strong form, a pack of arrows, and a bow, strapped to his back, and a sword still in his hand. Then I realize, it's Mercury.
A/N: Oooo, cliffhanger. *spoiler censor* Oh, man, I forgot about that spoiler sensor thing. I guess you'll have to wait until, I post the next chapter. I'll try not to make it too long. *looks around suspiciously* Mwahaha... mwahahahahahahahahaha! What are you staring at? (It's quite late, and I'm quite excited and slap happy, so I'm very sorry for this weird A/N, review pwease!)