This is a very SPECIAL chapter!

And at the end, tell me if you think I'm going to continue or not. I will continue, but if it goes bad for fern, I'll continue from a Capitol person's perspective!

Enjoy!

~Meghan

Chapter 5

Feasts

The Arena

"What District are we in?"

"Probably Nine."

"Now lets talk arena."

"No need."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't plan on making it out of this."

"I do. I have to get back to Pine... I have to..."

I'm awaken by the boom of a cannon.

"Go to sleep," Hendrix whispers. It's morning and the pine forest smells exactly like home. Once I'm awake I can't sleep.

Maybe five minutes later, I hear a high pitched scream, and then another cannon.

"What was that?" I ask Hendrix.

He shrugs. "Could've been anything, really."

I nod. "Well, go to sleep. I'll take watch."

He nods and lays down. We've been here for about three days and I've been worried about something. True, one of those things is the careers finding us, but I'm scared for Lexi.

She's been shaking a lot, no eating, looking thinner and thinner, not talking, and whispering to herself. Plus, she's coughing and none of the medicine we had has worked. I think she's gotten sick either from the rain, or some wierd bug mutt has bitten her.

Speaking of, she's whispering the key... the rock... must find key... to herself in her sleep. She's been talking nonsense and Hendrix has been ignoring her.

I try to remember whose left. The boy from One, Shimmer, Leon, Clover, Tide, Hendrix, Lexi, Trolley, Me, and Spindle. Have the Games been moving that fast? We've been here exactly one week. And two people are dead now.

And I have personally killed the girls from both Four and Eleven.

At the moment there are two alliances that I know of. Shimmer, Leon, Clover, and Tide. Then, me Lexi, and Hendrix. The boy from One, Trolley, and Spindle have no one.

I bite my fingernails and think. Eight people are left. Five people are left outside of our alliance...

My thoughts are interrupted by a rustle above us. I look up and see a parachute. Grinning, I quickly climb up the tree, grab the sposor item, and climb back down.

Inside is three pieces of bread. There's a star for District five with sugar on it and then a brown on flavored by maple syrup for Seven. I take a bite into mine and taste the sweet taste and smile.

I almost drop my bread when I hear the voice of Cladius Templesmith. "Congratualtions to you lucky final eight tributes! I hope you all are doing well, but if not... I have a proposition. Some of you need something dearly. Maybe it's not for you, but I implore you to come to a Feast. In three minutes where the Cornucopia was. That is all."

I turn around to find Hendrix sitting upright. "I'll go."

I shake my head. "No, I will. We need that medicine for Lexi. At least I hope that's what's in the bag..."

Hendrix nods. "Alright. I'll be watching from the side."

We wake up Lexi and she looks at me. "You don't have to do this."

I nod. "I do. Now, you'll have to stay near Hendrix."

And so I grab an ax and make my way down the field which is only a mile from here, but it's down hill, so I sprint and soon I can see a stone table that has risen up.

On it is a bag marked one, one marked two, one marked four, one marked five, one marked six, one marked seven, and one marked eight. I look over and find Spindle running towards her bag. She grabs it and looks around and dashes back to where she came from. Then, Trolley swiftly runs to the table glances at the bags, then over her shoulder, and swipes up two bags. Not just Six but Seven.

"Hey!" I shout.

She turns around towards the sound of my voice and I didn't notice but I had stepped out from behind a large boulder. She makes a little squeaking sound and scampers off.

I sigh figuring it's not worth chasing her down. But I run in, grab te bag marked five and turn around. That's when I see the girl from one running at me, holding several throwing stars. She has a bad cut above her left arm and her hair is all ratty. I suppose the time in the arena hasn't done her well.

I duck the first few and try to run but on hits my leg and I slip to the ground. She practically jumps on me.

"So, hello Seven," she says.

"Get off of me!" I shout. When she threw the first star, I totally dropped my weapon and now I can't reach it.

"So, I suppose you want to know why I didn't chase down those last girls. Well, I'll tell you anyway. For one thing, they're both thirteen and fourteen... and two, last year, your stupid cousin... Maple, was that her name?" Shimmer asks.

I had forgotten about that. I let my eyes shift up to the top right corner where I see Hendrix's faint outline running down towards me.

"Well... it was the third week in the arena... early morning... My sister was the last of her alliance and badly injured. And you're cousin... Jumped from a tree, and choked my sister. I cried for a full day. And you know what made me better? My sister came in third. You cousin was in the final two... And the girl from nine killer you're cousin didn't she?" Shimmer continues.

I feel tears well up in my eyes. I hated that. Maple was trying to run from then Nine girl, but she couldn't. And the District nine girl caught up to her and slowly cut lines into her until my cousin bled to death. And I had to watch it.

"Well... I've decided to do the same to you... You have a sister, right?" Shimmer asked, a blond pig-tail dropped from her should as put her stars down. "Maybe now she'll know exactly what I went through."

Her brown eyes lock on mine and she smiles, putting her hands on my shoulders. "Any last words?" she asks, moving her hands up to my neck.

I nod. "Behind you."

She raises an eyebrow. "What?"

By now, she's starting tightening her hand. I try to stretch my neck, but it just makes it worse. I feel my throat starting to close up and she gives a sort of laugh. "Aw? I'm sorry? Do you need air? Well, so did my sister. But I couldn't help her and no one can help you..."

I look back and see Hendrix still at least one hundred yards back. Hendrix! Hurrey! HURREY!

I start feel... numb and strange. The word turns blurry, I can only hear my heart, slowly beating, and see the colors of Shimmer's hair, skin, shirt, jacket, and the terrain around her.

And then I open my mouth, trying to breathe, and I can't. She smirks and I can hear her just as the edges of my vision begin turning black. "I wonder if your sisters watching..."

Then the black starts to take over my vision and I realize I'm closing my eyes. I can hear a voice. Pine's voice... "Please... Fern... Wake up..." then Maples... the voice she had at the end of her games. "Please! Stop! Don't kill me!"

suddenly I felt as if I was being lifted up, like I was floating... A thought dawned on me then too... Hendrix wasn't going to get here in time...

And then I heard Shimmer's voice one last time. "Bye-Bye Seven."