It's nearly a week before anything exciting happens again. The rain started the night of Preston's confession and hardly let off for five whole days. We turned our tents so that the openings pressed each other, that way we would be able to hear if anything or anyone not in our group tried to get into one of them. It was too cold to have a watchperson out in the rain, so we decided that there should be at least one person awake in each tent at all times.
On a few of the nights, the rain was slowed enough to have someone sit outside under a tarp. I volunteered to take one of these shifts so that I could get caught up with Marie Lynn. When she came, she asked me the regular questions and I turned all of them down, admitting that not much had happened since the rain started. I told her about what Preston had told us about his schooling and she didn't have much to say about that.
When it came time for her to tell me what she had been doing, she pulled out a gorgeous jewelled sword. She laughed when she mentioned how her sponsor pool would probably be dried up after this gift, but was very glad to have it. She let me hold it for a few minutes and the quality was like nothing I had ever felt.
It was too rainy to go hunting. Preston and William tried one of the days, but they didn't last long before giving in to the cold. Preston explained that a lot of the animals were probably hiding anyways, so the outing would not likely be fruitful.
We ate what remained of the previous catch and dried food, before resorting to the bitter berries and even some of the untouched pieces of the beetle-chicken. Preston mainly stayed to the dried fruits, when asked why, he explain that he was a vegetarian. I couldn't really understand why he wouldn't put that behind him in this circumstance, but he seemed perfectly content with his raisins. The strangest part of it all was considering how he slaughtered the animals and killed Ayler's District partner without even batting an eye, when put in comparison to his eating habits.
William compiled a list of all of the surviving tributes while we were six of us were left, plus William's District partner, Marie Lynn and Jarratt, Preston's District partner who had so cleverly evaded us at the bloodbath, Tsoma's old ally from District Five, and the girls from Seven and Twelve.
As the days ticked on, you could feel the tension rising. The Gamemakers had never been shy about making something exciting happen during a dull period and, as the only major group left, we were a prime target for trickery.
The hammer drops on the morning when the rain stops. Ayler, who was staying guard for our tent, wakes Preston and I up in the morning as soon as the clouds quit.
"It's strange to be able to tell that it's actually morning," I mumble, observing the blue sky. "It was so dark all the time that you could hardly make out what time it was."
I almost mentioned my jealousy of Marie Lynn's watch, but I caught myself after remember that they don't know about her. There was so little talking over the past five days that I pretty much lost all social skills.
"It doesn't feel like morning," William says, yawning.
Jason zips up the tent he was sleeping in and throws a canister from one of the parachutes on the ground. "That's the last of the food that we have and it's non-perishable, so I'd like to keep it around for a while."
I didn't realise that our supplies were running so low. Food being a problem is a weird feeling and I don't like it in the slightest. The other tributes must be near starved at this point, people are going to stop dropping from hunger.
We're all very lethargic, so unfortunately, it's easy for anything to sneak up on us. As soon as the last syllable leaves Jason's mouth, a shape darts out from the forest. It glides over the canister, picking it up as it goes and soaring into the sky. Its white head twists to look down at us as it ascends so I can make out what it is, an eagle.
Preston fumbles wildly for his bow and arrows, but it's taking too long, so Ayler launches his spear at the thief. We're all watching the escaping eagle, so we don't notice the second one swoop up from behind us and catch the spear mid-flight.
Ayler swears under his breath and we turn back to the forest. Another eagle is flying straight towards the group. Preston smartly avoids shooting an arrow at it while the bird flies directly at Jason's head. The force of the not-petite invader knocks Jason over, giving the bird room to land on his chest. He tries furiously to push it off of him while we run at it with swords, but it takes off before we can get there, leaving Jason clutching at his ear and screaming.
As I get closer, I see what this one stole. The sly little burglar ripped out his earring.
I'm too focused on the gore to notice the last bird, until it's got my sword in its talons. As all four fly away, Preston aims at them, but the shock, morning weariness, and Jason's wailing keep him from hitting any of them.
When Jason's recovered enough to get up and find bandages, he lets out the longest string of cursing I've ever heard. Everyone's very, very quiet and goes about their business without discussion. William scoops away the bloody sand, Dai Lao adjusts the tents back to normal, Ayler organises what weapons are left, and Preston goes hunting for his lost arrows. I decide to help Ayler organize what's left. It must be half an hour before anyone talks again. This time, it's not even one of us.
"Good morning tributes, good morning," The voice of James Catroll echoes all around the Arena. Jason turns frantically, getting used to hearing through the massive wad of bandages on his ear. "We have to send out our most sincere apologies for the antics of the some of the local fowl this morning."
"Damn right you do," Jason mutters.
"We've decided that it's only fair to give you back your items as well as some gifts from the Capitol as a representation of our apologies."
I perk up hearing this. It would be nice to be able to get some food without having to hunt for it.
They're not done with they're announcement. "If you look to the sky, your gifts should be arriving just about now."
My frustration doesn't keep me from mouthing the infamous last sentence of his interruption. "Good luck tributes, and may the odds be ever in your favour."
The odds are in our favour, but they certainly aren't very high. Nearly two dozen cherry red parachutes drift down from the sky. Although, instead of being in a central, convenient location, they're scattered as far as we can see across the sky. All of the parachutes look identical and there`s no sound of any of the usual ringing. There's no way of knowing which parachutes have our things in them, meaning that any tribute can find our weapons or our food.
As some of the parachutes descend into the forest and the others lose themselves in the horizon of the desert, it sinks in that we're going to have to go hunting for them.
It makes me angry, very angry. In the past, the Gamemakers have shuffled the pot with mutts, feasts, natural disasters, but never something like this. Not only are we going to have to split up to find our stuff, we don't have all of our weapons and could very likely come across another tribute that has found them. There was no way I could have planned for this.
William, thankfully, is on the ball. "Preston should go after the parachutes in the desert, because he's the best with the bow and arrows and they're no good in the forest. Everett and Jason should have the two swords, because they've been showing the greatest improvements with them. Ayler's fast, so he's not staying to watch… I guess that leaves you with a knife, Ay'… sorry. Someone needs to stay to watch, though, I suppose I could stay-"
"No, I'll stay," Dai Lao offers. "I haven't stayed watch before."
"Okay, so I'll go the opposite way from Preston in the desert," William finishes and gives me his sword.
Jason and Preston are already picking up to leave when I throw in a final remark. "Don't open anything until we're back here, unless you're attacked and desperately need a weapon. There might be dangerous things in the parachutes."
"Makes sense," William affirms. "Alright, so try to be back by night, don't stay out any later than that to try to find more parachutes. Everyone's going to be up and moving and it's going to be really testy out there."
My pulse is going at a mile a minute. Everyone, including Jarratt, is going to be looking for their stuff and no one is going to be happy about it. I'm glad to see that neither Ayler nor Jason is heading towards Marie Lynn's section of the forest, because I don't know how I'd get them to turn around. I stay away from that direction too; Marie Lynn's ought to be frustrated and jumpy, so I wouldn't want to surprise her.
The bush is still wet, enough so that even with my twisting and sliding to stay away from leaves, I'm still soaked and frozen after only a few minutes. It's weird being in the forest by myself, but I'm sure that this is how all of the other tributes feel and what some of my past favourites have experienced. I can't say I like it and it's making me anxious for when we have to split up. Maybe I'll go out hunting with Preston some time to learn some of his techniques, since I haven't been getting as many sponsors as I had imagined.
Even though I'm not moving very quickly, my heart rate is still very high. It brings me back to the bloodbath, where you had no idea where you were going or who you were going to run into.
As I walk, I scrape my sword against the trunks of trees and cut the heads off of flowers. I want to move quickly, but I also want to be able to get back to the tents. I know someone's going to die today, I can feel it. Hopefully it's not me and I won't be out late enough that my allies think it is.
I find myself concerned for some of my group members. Ayler's in the same situation as I am with only a knife. My time here would be much more miserable without him, even though I know he has to go at some point. He was quite the entertainer during the storm, if we were stuck like that again, I would hate being left without him. A chill runs down my spine at the thought that I might have to kill him.
"Attention, tributes, attention."
I stop as soon as I hear James' voice, reminded of all those times I stayed up late to watch his interviews on TV.
"We regret to apologise yet again for our poor hosting. We see that you are having some trouble finding your returned items. Hopefully this will help."
Here it comes. "Good luck tributes, and may the odds be ever in your favour."
I must not be the only one coming up short. I stay where I am to wait for whatever they're mentioning, remembering the delay of the parachutes appearing in the sky from before. It must be two minutes and I still don't notice anything different in my surroundings. At that point, I decide to keep going.
I pass through the towering pine trees and into the leafy, thicker forest. It's harder to hear small noises when I'm in the thick of the bush, so I almost miss Marie Lynn hissing at me from somewhere in the weeds.
"Everett," she starts out quietly.
I stop. "Where are you?"
"Come over here," she whispers.
"Where is here?"
She calls from further in front of me this time. "Follow me."
She continues calling for me to follow her, increasing in speed so that eventually I have to run to keep up. Every time I ask her to slow down, stop, or come out of the bushes, she tells me to shush and keep going. It's not amazing that I haven't seen anything but the movement of trees from her, the forest is just that thick.
"How can you move so quickly?" I finally ask after stumbling over a tree's root.
She just laughs.
She leads me through mud, shallow streams, and thorns, leaving me wet, messy, and scratched. Her little chase continues even when I've fallen and am begging her to slow down.
"I can't do this anymore," I'm panting. It's farther than I've run in a very, very long time. My entire body is screaming and I haven't heard so much as one thing to make me believe that this is for my benefit. "I'm turning around."
Meters above my head, she whispers her response. "Trust me."
The same two words echo in circles around me, moving from high in the trees above, to eye level. The sound bounces back and forth from far away to feet away and for a moment I think I've gone insane.
Then, one little 'trust me' comes from just a bit closer than the others. I turn instantly that way and barely catch the flutter of black wings through a gap in the leaves. I know those black wings, you can still find them in District Six. They're jabberjays.
"Run rabbit, run," they call from up ahead, still using Marie Lynn's voice. My curiosity is replenished; the Gamemakers are trying to lead me somewhere.
It's not far before I can hear another sound. More voices, whispering in menacing tones gyrate around the trees ahead. I stop in a bush near the voices and look into the clearing in front of me.
Ayler's voice startles me. "Someone get her!"
Jason's laugh tinkers from above. It startles me and I begin to wonder how Jason and Ayler found each other in the bush, but then I hear Preston's quiet laugh and I know something's up.
In the center of all of this is the girl from District One. She's turning frantically with every voice, her shaky knife raised. There are tears pouring down her face and her backpack lies at her side.
"Look, she's crying!" Dai Lao's voice jokes.
"She tried to get away, but she never really had a chance," that time it sounds like me.
It's more jabberjays harassing this girl. It's quite pathetic to see her so torn up by it, but I can understand her confusion after my little chase to get here.
The voices continue with laughs and taunts circling around the poor girl. She must have been mortified after her thin escape at the Cornucopia, she's probably been watching out for us this whole time. In fact, I bet we've been one of her main fears since we first formed in the Capitol.
The Marie Lynn jabberjay whispers again from right next to me. "Well, now's your chance."
At that moment all of my allies' voices stop. The girl still turns frantically, soaking and sobbing. It makes me sad to see it and I almost turn around, but in my head I can picture myself on my couch back home, screaming at the tribute on the screen not to run away from their chance to take another tribute out. This is my moment and I have to do it.
I watch her for a little while longer. Eventually she stops looking around and sits now, still in tears. She lies down in the wet grass, facing away from me, and sobs quietly. The view would look like a painting, if it weren't for her knife, messy hair, and crying. She's probably slept on the ground every night, I realise. She might have been crying then, too.
I try to move quietly as I approach her, but even when she notices me, she doesn't try to run away. She screams quite a bit, I try to make it quick.
I feel bad, awful really. The idea that my voice could be used to terrify someone that much is brutal. I never meant to make someone so innocent so afraid, I guess being in a group of people who don't have to worry on a day-to-day basis made me forget that there's people with no hope of getting out of here.
How many tributes' nightmares am I in?
In my chase, I forgot to mark trees, so now I have no idea where I am. There is a bit of a path marking how I got here, but the forest is so thick that the trail loses itself a couple of times. At those instances, I take my chances, but eventually I find out that I've been going the wrong way.
The reason I know my route isn't correct, though, is bittersweet. I think I'm hearing things at first, but soon I realise that what I perceive as my ears ringing is actually coming from somewhere nearby. The constant ring must be what the Gamemakers meant when they said they were going to make the parachutes easier to find.
It doesn't take long to find the first parachute, cherry red and five meters off the ground in a tree. What takes a long time is climbing up the tree to get it, considering that I haven't eaten anything since yesterday. By the time I get to where it's lodged, I trim the strings and let the capsule fall, praying that what's inside isn't fragile.
A few minutes after I have the capsule in my arms, there's a cannon blast from the sky. It reminds me that there was indeed a cannon blast from Preston's District partner, who I dealt with before, and that none of the guys will know whether that was a cannon for one of us, or someone we took care of. This cannon makes me worry about Ayler again, since he's in the woods with only a knife.
The second parachute I find is back at the cornucopia. It's landed right at the mouth and is quite larger than my other one. With any luck, this will be Ayler's spear, or some other Capitol weapon. Now that I'm at the Cornucopia, I at least have some idea where I'm going, remembering that we followed the tail of the Cornucopia into the woods on our first day. Although, It's a lot later than we left on the first day, I'm in worse shape and I have a bigger load. In summary, I'm a soaked, hungry, tired, ringing bundle of joy.
I know I'm on the right track when I reach the pine-to-leaf transition. I take a break here, slipping off my soaked socks and shoes so I can walk barefoot on the pine needles. It feels nice to have some sensation in my soaked feet, so I'm not worried about anything I might step on.
On my way I find an assortment of colourful mushrooms and am tempted to pick them. There's a nagging at the back of my mind, though and I leave them where they are. If I had Jason's book with me, I might try collecting them, but right now it's just too risky.
Right before I hit the desert, I smell the sharp scent of smoke. It brings a smile to my face instantly. Even if that smoke is coming from a forest fire, it would be a welcome change.
I can't contain myself when I see that it's not a forest fire and it takes all I have to not drop the parachutes and run. I muster everything to carry those two capsules to the tents and when I get there I'm met by a chorus of moans. The boys sit in a circle around a fire, sparks flying up into the navy sky.
"Ugh turn off the ringing, Everett," William whines.
"You can turn it off?" I ask groggily, not even sure of what I'm saying. All of my attention is focused on sitting down and massaging my skin in the warmth.
"There's a button on the side of the capsule," William explains, hands over his ears.
Ayler reaches over and presses each one, bringing forth sighs of pleasure from everyone. I notice a piece of meat in his hand.
"Food?" I ask, eyes wide and unable to say anything else.
"Yes, caveman, food," Ayler teases, waving it in front of my face. "I didn't get any parachutes, but I caught an eagle."
I moan happily when Preston passes me a piece of meat and recline to chew on it. "Eagles suck."
"Eagles suck,"Ayler affirms.
"Who died?" I ask.
William explains that he found the girl from Twelve wandering in the desert. I mention Preston's District partner, but none of the jabberjay details, since most of it involved Marie Lynn.
"Can we open these now?" Preston asks, four red parachutes and one silver one poking out from behind him. "They were really easy to find in the desert."
"You go first," William says.
In his parachutes, Preston has two that are full of dry food, one with a bar of soap, and the last one with a very beat-up knife.
"That knife must have been some tribute's," William explains about the weapon.
In his silver parachute is three bottles of water, which is nice considering we would have had to go get more in the next few days. We were able to drink rainwater during the storm, but no one had the energy to try to bottle it.
William opens the two parachutes he found, revealing Ayler's spear and a roll of paper towel. There are many sarcastic remarks made.
Jason found one parachute with an empty canteen that must have belonged to another tribute.
I'm nervous about opening mine, because we haven't had any traps yet. Fortunately the smaller canister has food in it, which is nice.
I had a feeling that I might find my stolen sword in the big one, since we already got Ayler's spear, and in a sense I was right. The sense that I was wrong in was that the sword wasn't mine.
I know it the minute I open it, that I have found the best of all of the gifts. Marie Lynn's gorgeous jewelled sword stares back at me, the design so characteristic of her and all of her glory that I can practically hear her voice. I check, it's not a jabberjay this time.
When I pull the sword out of the box, all of the boys' eyes open wide. At first I'm happy to have this fantastic weapon, but then I realise the biggest issue of all, Marie Lynn's going to want it back.
How will I explain to my allies when they wake up one morning that I just lost this dream of a weapon?
They look at me expectantly, but I can only manage to say one thing. "Wow."
"Yeah," Dai Lao mutters.
We sit in a stupor for a few seconds before Ayler laughs.
"What?" William asks, smiling.
Ayler has to compose himself before he can answer. "Some poor kid out there, somewhere in the woods, is opening what they think is a gift from the Captiol and guess what they're finding?"
"I don't know," William prompts, shaking his head.
"Jason's earring."