CHAPTER 4

I pick up my things and leave the lake side. The cannon was close and I can't afford to stay here much longer. I'm already exhausted from the two days of pure movement, with little rest in between. Thankfully I remembered to refill my bottles from the lake. It's not the cleanest water, but it's much better than nothing. The sun is beginning to rise and my vision is becoming slanted, so I remove the night glasses and shove them in my backpack.

I wonder what the careers are doing. Still on the prowl? Although I have to admit, most career groups restrict their hunting to night-time, when we're at our most defenceless. I re-enter the forest. This seems like a smart thing to do, as I know this terrain. Though I doubt Squirrel's having much trouble. This part of the forest is mostly large thick oak and, to my annoyance, they're sparsely placed. I may as well be out in the open. I'm walking carefully, trying not to snap on too many twigs when I hear them.

"Hey! Hey, there she is!" Shouts Squirrel, running for me. The entire career pack is just ahead. I need to run. They begin pursuit and I bolt off, trying to keep a sustainable distance from them. They won't give up. So I have to hide. Another willow and pine section is coming up. I have to hide now or never. I dart through the long tendrils of a willow tree and quickly scale it, hoping they will not be able to see me. In climb as I high as I possibly can, and try to conceal myself.

It doesn't work.

They're at the bottom of the trunk right now.

"We have you now Regan!" Yells Shimmer, smirking. And they do, unless I can think of a way to get out soon. Squirrel starts to climb the tree, but I must have weakened a branch or two because it snaps and she falls off, crying out and rubbing her ankle.

"You are going to PAY for that!" She screeches up at me. She stands up and then almost immediately falls over. She's hurt her ankle. The boy from two leans down and whispers something to her. She bats him away.

"It's just a sprain! I'm fine!" She snaps. The boy from two rolls his eyes.

"In any case, we can't get up that… So now what?" He asks. The boy from one is quiet, but the district four boy, whose name I think is Neptune, steps forwards.

"We burn it."

I swallow. That would kill me even before the flames touched me. Smoke rises. And I have no intention of asphyxiating to death.

"That could start a forest fire, dumbass." The district one boy rolls his eyes. He knows better. If they were careful in controlling it, and waited for a drop in the winds, it's likely to only affect this one tree. He doesn't want me burnt. How touching.

"Well do you have any bright ideas?" Neptune asks, rudely.

"Ugh. I'll deal with this." Aquette snaps. She steps to the front of their little group and picks up her trident.

"I wonder if you'll hear your own cannon." She smirks, and then throws it straight at me. I suddenly experience a brutal adrenalin rush. I jerk left and it scrapes by me, opening up a gash on my arm. The adrenalin is stopping the pain. For now. Meanwhile I'm stuck n shaking badly until one of them realises they can simply use a spear. It was luck I moved the last time. Chances are, next time I won't be so lucky.

"You know what you've got to do. You're the best of us with spears." Aquette said harshly to the boy from two.

"Here you go." announces Shimmer handing the boy from two the spear. He looks disdainfully at her, but she only giggles and blinks her big golden eyes. He raises the spear.

My end is coming. I'm struck by a sudden vision of the ground becoming soaked with red, and my family being forced to watch.

He throws the spear. And yet, this boy, the brute from 2, who's spent his entire life preparing for this, misses. Not by very much, but the spear is embedded in the tree next to me. I yank it out and grip it tightly. I look down, intending to say thanks, but the sight below takes me by surprise.

It's the boy from 11. He's just as big as the boy from two, and he looks absolutely furious. He takes a kind of knife I never seen before (a large curved blade) and draws it across the boy from two's neck, slicing… the most part of his head off. Shimmer screams.

BOOM. One less tribute alive.

"Cupter!" cries Squirrel. She looks up at the boy from 11, her expression murderous. "You are going to pay for this!" She screams at him.
Squirrel takes a small, sharp knife out of her jacket but Aquette stops her and instead fires an arrow at the boy from 11. He dodges it.

Then the scene changes completely. Both Squirrel and Aquette are trying to kill the district 11 boy, who's running. Shimmer and Neptune flee the scene, away from the other two murderous tributes, taking off in the same direction as each other. A mangled corpse lying sprawled out on the ground, and the boy from one, choosing to stay. That's all I can see.

They've all left, except the District 1. Has he forgotten I'm here?

It's just as I'm thinking that when he looks up at me. I'm taken aback, but I have a spear, and I go on the defensive/mocking side.

"Go on then. Kill me" I challenged him, because I knew he hadn't the guts to really do it.

"No." he answered me. "Come here, I'm not going to kill you. Look, I couldn't have let them burn the tree down earlier, and I stopped them. Besides, I only got water, glasses and a sword. I promise not to use on you either. The rest is at The Cornucopia."

I think twice about it, and then realise he probably couldn't kill me. I've more weapons than him and he previously wanted me as an ally. I get the feeling he felt uncomfortable with his Career friends.

BOOM. Who is it now?

I get off the tree carefully with the trident and the spear in my hand. He helps me to stand and smiles. I'm stood a little way back from him, weapons in hand, just in case.

"Hi. I'm Flint."

"Regan."

"I know." He says. "I've known it since I saw you at the reaping. The 15 year-old... beautiful girl who was unfortunately chosen to be a tribute. You looked gorgeous at the interview by the way, much prettier than that plastic girl from 1."
Well. That's a lot to take in. But he has noticed me. So I decide to trust him. I look at him for a moment, making my final decisions. Yes. OK.

"Allies?"

"Allies." He confirms.

"Okay, let me take you somewhere." I smile slightly at him, and start walking, listening for his footsteps behind me. I've still got my weapons. Trust has never come easily to me.

So his name's Flint. He's different from the other Careers. I'm not interested in the Careers at all. To me they're simply the 'bad ones,' although I have to recognize that Flint is good looking: blonde curly hair and brown eyes. In other words: not bad. I know he is not lying to me; he told the other Careers he wanted to have me as an ally and wouldn't do anything to kill me. I believe him. I just don't trust him.

We arrive at my secret place again because I needed a break after my injury.

"Do you know how to treat this?" I ask Flint showing him my arm.

He doesn't answer; he simply pulls out a long spool of bandage from his bag and covered my arm with it. We sit down and I kind of just sit there awkwardly, whilst he massages my injury, worried. He kept his gaze firmly trained on my arm, but I find myself staring at him. As I look into those dark brown eyes, I find myself relaxing. They remind me of the trees at home.

"So who do you think is dead?" I ask him, trying to distract myself. I know he's quiet but maybe he has useful information.

"Shimmer or Neptune." He states, plainly. "They ran away. If Aquette finds them she'll be angry. She'd kill them in an instant."

"So I'm sorry then." I say. "Was Shimmer your friend, back in district 1?"

"Not at all" Flint answers me. "We knew each other but that's it. Besides, if I'm honest, she's just a pretty face. When Aquette and the rest of the Careers realize, they'll kill her. They just have Shimmer to use her. The career pack is only a pack if it has all the proper districts. They need enough people."

Now I can understand the Career's mind-set. They just get together, train at the Training Centre, and kill every single tribute they see. Then the one who lasts longer is the victor and at any sign of treason, there's one less Career. They don't care for each other at all.

Survival of the fittest, nothing more.

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Lucy xxx