Jason is the first one to turn around, Preston follows next. Everyone spins on their heels until only William and I are still facing the dead boy on the ground. William gestures to where the other boys are standing, we need to regroup.
"First thing's first," he says when we join the crowd. "Is anyone hurt other than Everett?"
That startles me, until I remember that I cut my thumb on my sword. Jason's got a cut on his arm, but everyone else has just got scratches. It doesn't take long to find a crate of mostly untouched first aid supplies.
"Did anyone see someone get into the supplies?" I ask, observing that some of the crates have been opened.
Ayler nods. "Yeah, Tsoma's partner from Five was picking through things. I was gonna get him but I was busy."
Dai Lao perks up. "Oh! Did anyone get Tsoma?"
Jason raises his hand.
"Nice," William says. "I got the boy from Seven in the bush."
"I got the girl from Eleven," Ayler says. "And my pal Presty here got my District partner."
Preston blushes.
I clear my throat. "I got the boy from Twelve. He should have died by now."
"He's not dead yet?" William asks.
"There's no way he's surviving what I did to him."
Dai Lao goes next. "I got the boy from Eleven," he points across the field to the body that caused Preston's kill to trip.
Jason's face scrunches up. "No you didn't"
"Yeah, I got him with a knife."
"You're an idiot," Jason fumes. "You little liar!"
Dai Lao takes a step back.
"I killed him, not you! You never say anything at the right time and now you try to take my kill? You're a coward! You weren't kidding when you asked who would have thought Trawl would be the one to die, I can guarantee that everyone here thought it was going to be you!"
Jason picks up the pocket knife from the medical kit and turns towards Dai Lao. Dai Lao backs up, fists clenched and getting ready to run.
"You don't even have any blood on you, idiot! How could you even think you could pull of taking my kill when you look like you just stepped out of the Capitol!"
"Stop," William reaches out to Jason.
"You're a coward!" He screams.
Preston puts his hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. It's you're kill, we know it is."
Dai Lao, still backing up, trips over a crate. William helps him up.
Jason tries to shake Preston off, William stands between him and Dai Lao. "Stop! Stop, stop. We're all on edge, stop."
"We can't fight," I say before I realise that I'm talking. Everyone looks at me. "Groups who fight always die."
Dai Lao nods desperately, Jason rolls his eyes and returns to bandaging his arm. "I got Tsoma and the boy from Eleven."
"Okay," William agrees. "You've got two and we've all got one, except Dai Lao."
Jason nods and mumbles something.
"We have to go around and make sure there's no one still in the area. There are always some tributes that wait around the Cornucopia until the big guys leave," I announce.
Ayler looks confused. "If we got anyone now, would that count towards the bloodbath deaths for points?"
"No, the bloodbath's done. We decide who gets what supplies at the end based on sponsor gifts now."
Jason smiles at this, it scares me a little. He finishes wrapping his arm and picks his sword back up. "I don't think anyone would stick around after hearing Preston's kill scream."
"That's the thing that's bugging me," I continue. "They start firing the first cannons when everyone's out of the area and there's not a very good chance than anyone's going to die soon. They haven't started the cannons yet."
Everyone takes this in.
"So someone's still here," Ayler concludes.
"Yeah."
Without a word, everyone picks up their equipment and starts walking away.
"Wait," I stop them. "Go in pairs," I look at Trawl's body. "Just in case."
Everyone pairs up with who they're standing closest to. For me this means I'm with Jason. Preston's with Dai Lao, and William's with Ayler.
Jason and I turn to go behind the Cornucopia. I close my eyes as we pass Trawl's body and am glad to be travelling in a direction away from my earlier kill. Both of Jason's hands are still clenched and he stares emptily towards the forest.
There's a body laying the middle of the field; I shudder at the thought of having to walk past another one. Hopefully someone will find the person nearby soon so that we can leave and the Capitol can clean them up.
The sounds of the forest have finally started to return to the air by the time we're a good distance from the Cornucopia. White noise fills my ears as we approach the body. It's a girl, I realize. I can see the number one on her back, half of the number Eleven; this must have been Ayler's kill.
Ayler was covered in blood when he was with us before. There's no blood on the body.
"Wait," I hold out my hand to stop Jason.
We hold her stance and stare at the body for a second.
Her eyes fly open. She gets up and runs. She's not District Eleven, she's District One.
"Hey!" I shout and all of the boys turn.
Now it's six against one, a sprint to the forest.
Ayler's the closest, he throws his spear, but it shoots between her outstretched legs. She can't stop her momentum and keeps running, wedging the staff of the spear between her thighs. It sends her flying onto her face and the nearby Ayler tripping over her back.
It's all happened in a matter of seconds and they're both back on their feet and running. Both of them are fast, faster than the rest of us. Jason and William have stopped running, realizing that they won't catch up. I stop too.
Without the wind whipping past my ears I can hear exactly what's going on. The girl's crying, screaming out to Preston, her District partner. She's wearing a red backpack that she must have taken from the Cornucopia when were in the forest, but we returned before she could get away. Pretending to be dead was a smart idea, if she had only kept her cool, she might have made it.
She drops her backpack trying to improve her speed and it effectively trips Ayler for a second time. I would never have imagined the bloodbath to include so much tripping.
Out of nowhere, something barrels into the side of her. My eyes adjust to see Dai Lao struggling with her on the ground. He's taunting her, only making her wailing worse. Without warning she heaves her fist back and smashes it against his nose, knocking him away from her.
Jason laughs under his breath.
She stands up again and stumbles into the forest. Ayler is a good ways behind her, but follows her none the less. He comes out of the forest seconds later, shaking his head. We walk towards him, William stopping to help Dai Lao up.
"Good try," I say. "She was fast."
Ayler's panting. "No kidding. Sorry Preston, she was you're District partner, right?"
Preston nods, then mumbles something inaudible.
"What?" Jason asks.
"I got yours, you got mine."
Ayler scratches the back of his head. "Heh, right," It didn't sound like his normal laugh.
A few seconds later, the first cannon from the bloodbath goes off. It's louder than it seems on TV, and it actually shakes the ground a little. William jumps and Dai Lao's eye's open wide. He's got a river of red running down from his nose.
In total there's nine cannons.
William talks first. "We killed six, then there's Trawl… that leaves two we don't know about."
"One," Jason corrects. "Somebody blew themselves up, remember."
"Right."
"There's a lot of us left," I say. "Normally there's more gone during the bloodbath."
William changes the subject. "I guess we should see the rest of the arena."
Each of us has two large hiking backpacks when we're ready to leave. We all carry supplies in our arms too, except for Dai Lao, who's still nursing his nosebleed. It's decided that he'll lead the way, since he's the only one with free hands.
"We should go this way," Jason points. "My platform's over there, there's less trees. That's why I was able to get here so quickly."
It doesn't seem fair that he was in such a clear area of forest, but it makes sense. The Gamemakers always give little advantages to the that players they think will be the most interesting.
"Could you see anyone from your platform?" I ask.
He stops. "Uh, that blonde girl."
Marie Lynn, that's who I was expecting. She's probably far away from here now, setting up her camp. I'm sure she's got plans to follow me where I go, though.
The forest is a lot thinner, hopefully it's a sign that the entire arena isn't this bushy. It's too easy for someone to hide in that undergrowth.
Dai Lao wisely stays silent for the trip, only speaking to warn us if there's a pot hole or branch.
We're all weighed down fairly similarly, each with one bag of food and water and another of supplies. I've got two tents, each built for four people. Anything excess that we didn't want to bring we made into a huge bonfire so that no one else could get it. That was my idea too. All of the food that was present is with us, unless it was something that spoils really quickly. The last thing we did before we left was change into new clothes. Anything bloody was left to burn.
On the way we come across a creek. Even though there were water bottles with the supplies, we still brought all of the empty canteens with us in Preston's bag. We stop to fill them all, uncertain of where we're going and if we'll find water again. Once they're all full and back in Preston's bag, he crouches to sling it over his shoulders and lifts with his legs. As soon as he stands back up, the weight buckles his knees and sends him down onto his back.
We burst out laughing, and then help him to his feet. Jason tests the weight of the bag and says he's amazed that Preston could stand up in the first place. As usual, Preston blushes.
Dai Lao's nosebleed has stopped, so he adds some of the canteens to his load. Preston's bag, now bearable, returns to its position of his back and we slug on.
After a few minutes, Alyer, who's second in line, stops.
"What is it?" William asks.
"I was thinking."
A pause. "About what?"
"How Dai Lao got punched by a girl."
Dai Lao grumbles and keeps walking.
Ayler laughs and runs after him. "It was a good effort, Captain Tackle Pounce!"
William and I exchange glances. It was pretty funny.
Up ahead, Dai Lao has stopped and when we reach him, we all stop too. The forest, which previously shifted from leafy trees to pines, now slopes away into a limitless desert. The sun is late-day orange, burning a hole into the horizon.
"That's unexpected," William whispers, taking in the view.
"I think you could have said that about a lot of things today," Pretson finishes.
"Touché."
Personally, I couldn't be happier. "This is perfect!"
"Everett's gone nuts, eh Willy boy?"
"No, really! No one's going to go into the desert, so it's the perfect spot for us to camp. No one can sneak up on us, and we're close enough to the forest to get to water quickly. I didn't think we could find something this perfect in the arena!"
I didn't mention that Marie Lynn could find us easily here.
Ayler steps out onto the sand and drops his bags. "Well, what the super fan says goes."
Everyone follows; relieved to drop the weight they were carrying.
Jason opens up his food bag and passes around some dried meat. "We hike like men, we eat like men."
I smile and finish his sentence. "We win like men."
Three of us to a tent, we finally got them pitched. In traditional Hunger Games fashion, they didn't come with instructions and Preston was the only one who had ever been camping before.
"I was responsible for starting the fire," he defended when the one he was working on collapsed.
Dai Lao emerges from one of the tents and sits down next to William. "They should have a tent pitching station in the training center."
"Who in their right mind would waste their time at a tent pitching station?" Jason rolls his eyes.
"It was just a joke."
"It wasn't funny."
Desperate for a change of subject, William speaks. "Jason, is that an earring?"
Jason paws at his right ear. "Oh, yeah."
"You haven't always had it."
"They gave it to me last night, said it was a style from before the Dark Days, apparently I'm 'vintage cute,'" he shrugs.
"Oh," I pipe up. "I forgot to tell you not to talk about that."
"His earring?"
"The Dark Days."
Jason looks at me. "Why not?"
"It's been a bad habit of Tributes in the past, the ones who don't make it to the end," I say, wanting to get off the topic.
William's eyes open with understanding. "Ohh, okay."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Dai Lao asks.
William whispers to him, to avoid the option of Jason using his own methods of explanation. "The Gamemakers, they don't like you bringing up the Rebe-"
On cue, the Capitol anthem bursts from the sky, a similar sensation to the cannon shots from before. William and I laugh, Ayler and Preston smile. The Gamemakers are really trying to shut us up.
After the anthem, the faces start to show, it's a new type of anxiety all together.
The girl from Two, Preston's kill.
Trawl.
The girl from Four. Jason looks indifferent. We don't know who killed her.
Kristen. My stomach drops, I had forgotten about her. We don't know who killed her either, but somehow I still feel responsible.
Tsoma, Jason's first kill.
Boy from Seven, William's.
The boy from Eleven, also courtesy of Jason.
The girl from Eleven, Ayler purses his lips.
Finally, the boy from Twelve. The responsibility falls to me.
A minute of silence passes, everyone absorbing the day's events. A few hours ago there were seven of us sitting happily in the Capitol, now there's just six on the seam of a forest.
"I want to sleep," Ayler breaks the silence. Preston nods.
"Someone has to stay awake," William says.
Marie Lynn said she'd come at night when everyone was asleep. I need to make sure she's still with me. "I can do it, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep anyways."
It's agreed upon and the supplies are moved into the tents.
William comes up to me. "I'll switch with you halfway through the night; just wait until the moon's halfway through the sky."
"Right."
Preston and Jason go in one tent, William, Dai Lao and Ayler in the other. I stay outside and face myself towards the forest, eyes peeled for my secret ally.
A few minutes after the rusting of the boys settling in the tents has stopped, Ayler talks through the tent. "Hey Everett?"
"Hey Ayler."
"When do they start selling sponsor gifts?"
"Tomorrow."
"Hmm. Okay."
William joins in too. "Go to sleep Ayler."
He sighs. "Fine, goodnight Preston, goodnight Jason, goodnight William, goodnight Everett."
A chorus of 'goodnights.'
Ayler lowers his voice to a mock-serious tone. "Goodnight Captain Tackle Pounce."
Dai Lao groans.
It's been a rough day for Dai Lao