Mama, Mama, help me get home
I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own
I found me a werewolf, a nasty old Mutt.
It showed me its teeth and went straight for my gut
- A Child's Walk Home
Thistle looked at the knife in her hand, then at me. Then the blade shot forward. But it wasn't Thistle's blade that shot forward. Thistle crumpled in a pile on the floor and I looked behind me. A very familliar stood clothed in black with a knife in her hand.
"Katniss?!" I exclaimed. "What's going on?" I stood up quickly. Katniss ran forward.
"You're welcome." Katniss rolled her eyes. "Now come on, I managed to buy my way into the Games, but only for a short time, now come with me." She started pulling me away from Thistle just as the cannon shot and announced her death. I heard the distant hum of a hovercraft coming to take the body away.
"What? Why?!" I exclaimed, following her, half jogging to keep up with her face.
"Because Thistle was going to kill you. And there are other things in this forest I need to you watch out for, especially-" Katniss broke into a fit of snarly coughs.
"Are you alright?" I asked worriedly, even though Katniss waved me away flippantly.
"I'm fine." She said. "Come on, we have to keep moving." Katniss yanked on my hand.
"Ow!" I drew my hand back- Katniss's nails had cut into me.
"Sorry." Katniss said, almost like an afterthought.
"It's fine." I muttered. "Where are we going?"
"There's a tribute nearby who might kill you. I'm leading you away from him." Katniss told me. I raised an eyebrow.
"You did all this just to lead me away from a tribute?" I asked skeptically. "Why not just let me deal with him on my own?"
"Because..." Katniss trailed off.
"Because?" I pressed. Then I stuttered. "Katniss, what happened to your eyes?"
"My eyes?" She repeated, stopping dead. I walked around until I was in front of her.
"Yeah. Your eyes. They're really weird and... big." I said, confused.
Katniss had a weird look on her face. "All the better to see you with, my dear." She snarled, looking up so I could see her clearly. She pulled her lips away from her teeth, revealing sharpened fangs like a wolf. Her eyes were huge and yellow and showed no whites. Her nails thickened and sharpened into claws.
I backed away from her. "You're not Katniss. You're a muttation." I breathed, stating the obvious.
"Well done." Not-Katniss said sarcastically. She was morphing into a wolf more and more by the minute. "Eight points for intelligence. No, six points, it took you long enough."
"Why did you save me from Thistle?" I asked hoarsely, backing away from Katniss. She didn't even take a step towards me, but as a wolf she would be able to reach me in two bounds.
"It is so much sweeter to see a tribute struggle for their life, and so much better when they die a painful death." Katniss cocked her head to the side, and her body started ripling into a wolf. I took in a deep breath.
"Not if I do something about it." I reached for a knife at my belt, and threw it at her. Katniss morphed into a wolf (one with dark hair and grey eyes, and looked a lot like Katniss), and ducked. I reached for another knife but the wolf bounded up to me, snapping its jaws and trying to get my my stomach or neck, somewhere that could cause a lot of damage. I had to use both hands to keep the wolf at arms length away from me, although it's razor sharp teeth were dangrously close to my body.
I couldn't help the sobs and shriek of panic escape from my mouth. I needed to get another knife and stab it. I bought my foot up and kicked at the wolf's stomach- she whined and backed away for a moment, but long enough for me to reach for long bade. When the wolf came back snapping from my neck, I managed to stab it in the stomach. My first kill and it was a wolf.
The wolf whined in pain, a low mournful sound, and I almost felt pity before the wolf's body was etched in graphic construction marks and I remembered it was just a mutt that Django had built.
Movement flickered at the corner of my eye, and before thinking I grabbed the knife out of the dead wolf and threw it towards the moving thing. A choked voice gasped and groaned in pain and I ran forward when I realised who I threw the knife at.
"Phox." I gasped. "Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod." I ran towards Phox. His knees gave out and I caught him.
"It's fine- it- it just grazed my side." Phox said, though his voice was strained.
"That did not just graze your side!" I gasped, looking at the blood. I put Phox's hands around the edge of the knife. "Put pressure on it." I ordered. Phox nodded, and I pulled the knife out quickly. Blood spilled between the gaps of his fingers.
I pulled up my top to show the top I had underneath. I ripped part of it off and used it to soak up the blood.
"I can't stop the bleeding!" My hands were shaking.
"Wren, there's a shed ah, not too far away. Either you leave me here or you take me there." gasped Phox. He was looking sickly pale.
"I'm not leaving you." I said fiercely. I wrapped my arms under his arms and started dragging him towards the shed, which was apparantly about twenty metres behind us. Phox's weight was almost too much for me, and he was becoming more and more limp by the second. I strained and strained until I pulled him to the door of the shed. I was exhausted and my muscles were trembling with exhaustion. "Where's the key?" I asked.
"Up that tree in an abandoned tracker jacker nest." Phox whispered, pointing weakly towards a tall mahogany tree.
"Fine. I'll be right back." I surveyed the tree, figuring out the best way to climb up it. I went as fast as I could, though it felt like hours. All the while I was thinking, Phox is down there and he's dying because of me. I felt awful, and I didn't like it.
I got to the tracker jacker nest and I couldn't help but be cautious as I peered inside, but the only glint of gold was from the shed key. I climbed back down quickly, too quickly. On the last branch I slipped and fell to the ground with a thud, but Phox looked almost dead so I shrugged the pain off and limped towards the door. I fumbled with the key and sighed in relief when the door gave way.
I dragged Phox inside and immediately locked the door after me. There were a few candles but there was a light switch. Next to it was a panel that said Energy with a little sun symbol next to it- there was over half left, which was good. The whole shed must run on solar power.
"Phox, I need to stitcch you up. Are there any medical kits, bandages or material, maybe a needle and thread?" I asked. Phox gave me no reply.
I remembered my wound healer spray with the wound regrow. I yanked open the zip to my bag- which was thankfully unharmed- and took the spray out. My eye caught over the line, Do not spray more than 10 times per 6 hours.
I took Phox's limp hands off the bloody bandage and lifted his shirt up so I could see the wound better. I sprayed three times. Phox muttered in pain even in his unconcious state, but thankfully the blood went away and a thin membrane formed over the cut. I sprayed another three times which would leave me another four sprays until I reached the maximum limit. With Phox safe- however temporarily- I left him and got to work.
The cabin's harsh silver colours, it stood out too much against the neutral browns and greens of the forest. There was a hollow and soggy log nearby, I kicked it until it snapped in half and filled both halves with earth and mud. I used some of my water to make the earth and mudd soggy, and then scraped it onto the sides of the shed until it was all earthy brown. I took the unused mud and threw it onto the roof, and while the mud was drying I took any twigs I could find and stuck them to the side, then threw branches on top.
It wasn't the best, but it was better than before. I went back into the shed, covered Phox with a blanket, and looked around for some containers. There were a few, and I stuffed them all in my bag. I headed outside- noting that I had to be quick because it was already getting dark. I orientated myself by going back the way I came, back to where the wolf's blood was still there, though its body had dissapeared. I picked up any of the knives I left that I could find, and traced my steps back to my traps, where only three out of the four had caught something- a rabbit, a wild turkey and a small boar- but it was better than what I had hoped for and I was thrilled.
I almost threw up when I had to kill them, but I put them in the containers and promised myself I would skin them and cook them later. I held the containers at arms length and moved onto picking fruit. I wasn't having much luck until I found some small dark berries.
I eagerly started picking at them by the handfuls, until a small parachute came and knocked the container over, spilling everything out onto the floor. I sighed, but opened the parachute enthusiastically.
The mentors note attatched to it said, That's nightlock, it's poisonous. Stay away!
I looked around and nodded, hoping Katniss and Peeta could still see me, but I figured they might come in handy later, so I put a few of them in a container, sealed it tightly, and then opened the rest of the parachute. It was box of berries, and a colour coded key list.
Pink, red and blue berries were normal for eating, yellow ones had morphling to ease pain, and green ones were to wake you up. It must have cost a lot, and I was grateful to my mentors. I closed the parachute carefully and put all the berries away in my bag.
I quickly started heading back towards the shed, hoping Phox was still alive, and that I would get there before everything turned pitch black. It was almost completely dark when I got back to the cabin, and the light from inside shined out illuminating the woods.
Wait. I froze, and got out my knives, then let my bag drop to the floor. Dread and realisation hit me.
I had forgotten to lock the shed door.
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