Chapter 13 – Day 6 – 12 Tributes
I wake up to the birds chirping and stalking as usual. Through the clean-picked bush I can see the sun at about 9:00 in the air. As I stand up and grab my knife, the birds fly away. The only thing I can think to do right now is return to the small pond for water. I walk along the stones this time, plain in the open. My footsteps echo against the rocks with each step I take. It's beautiful out here, the white and grey rocks along the greenery around me. I have the morning sun in my face and I feel good.
When I reach the pond I drink some water and then wash my hair out. Then, I drink some more. It's obviously not sanitary to be bathing and washing your body in water and then drinking it, but it's the only water source I have and I need it to survive.
Next, I sit on the rocks and stare at the woods, longing for something meaty to eat. I consider hunting but then I realize I have one the squirrels still in my pocket. I find some dry wood and some kindling and I set up a little pile right on the rocks. I use two stones and rub them together vigorously and get nowhere. An hour or so passes and I've given up. There's no use in trying if I'm not getting anywhere. Instead, I pick more berries and nuts and eat those along the rocks. Towards the afternoon, I take the squirrel and chuck it into the woods. By tomorrow it'll be spoiled and no good for cooking even. I don't want to risk getting sick. I have no use for this food.
The day seems to go nowhere; it's been 12 o'clock for the past three hours. I decide to go for a walk. There have been no signs of other tributes, so I figure looking around couldn't hurt. My legs take me into the forest once more. I walk further back from where the rocks are. I've never explored this area but I find it's beautiful. The trees grow thicker and the hills roll around the area, moss covering the trunks of the trees and tall, wet grass covering the hills. Just rich green all around. Eventually, I take a rest stop at a fallen tree. I sit on it and pick a new kind of berry from a bush next to it. I immediately recognize the berry and just eat it immediately. After having the same type of berry to eat for the past six days, I'm glad to finally eat something fresh. This berry is what they call a matchberry. The reason being that the berry is red on the top and then slowly turns yellow at the bottom, so it kind of looks like a small flame. They're tangy and sweet and just what I like, personally, so I take hundreds of them and just stow them in my pocket for later.
As I'm picking the matchberries, I begin to hear footsteps. They're coming from the opposite direction, sloshing around in the wet grass. I can hear voices too. Immediately I think they're Careers, so I jump over the fallen tree and lay down behind it. It's too late to make a run for it, so hiding will just have to do.
The pair of footsteps comes closer and closer until I can make out the voices. But it's not two Careers; it's two kids. They've got to be young, like maybe 12 or 13 at the most. A girl and a boy, walking right next to each other. I begin to hear their conversation.
"…and she flipped out completely, it was outrageous." The girl laughs.
"Yeah, it's funny now, but when we she kills us it won't be as funny." The boy says, laughing right with her.
"Who knows we'll die?" the girl says, practically in whisper. You can tell she's still joking around. "Maybe we'll both win."
"Yeah, sure."
"Hey, you never know! Imagine: 'The two youngest tributes win the 62nd Annual HUNGER GAMES!'" she shouts in an announcer voice. You can hear the boy slap her nylon jacket. He hushes her.
"Do you want them to hear you?!"
"Oh, stop overreacting. Why don't we camp here for the night, it looks like it'll get dark soon. We want to keep as close to the edge as possible."
"That sounds good."
"I'm gonna go look for dry wood."
"I doubt there's any around here."
"Well, what else is there to do now? Just set up our camp, will yah?"
The girl walks down further away from me and the boy begins to set up their camp right on the opposite side of the fallen tree. My breaths are short and shallow. If they hear me, I'm gonna die. No, wait. Maybe I won't. Maybe I can use them as allies. But only maybe. Should I take the chance? I'm still not sure.
The boy is fiddling around with something and making a lot of noise. It's evident they have supplies. You can hear it all jingling around. I begin to think my best chance is with them. Slowly, I start to move to stand up but then I stop again. I ask myself 'Are you absolutely sure this is the best idea?' Yes, I finally figure out.
My decision is to stand up as abruptly and quickly as possible. When I rise, my pants and shirt are soaked from the ground, and I can see the boy sitting there, squatting, and handling a sleeping bag. He immediately looks up and his eyes get big with fright. Quickly, he stands up and wields a sword. He begins to talk firmly to me, as if he's practiced this in his mind tons of times.
"I'm gonna kill you if you make a move. Get out. Leave us alone."
"Okay, just hear me out first." I begin. "What if we became allies—you and your friend? We could make a really good team."
"You're lying to me."
"No, really, I'm not. I can show you, I have a water supply and I know a lot about the plants and… and… I can throw knives really well!" I'm practically begging at this point. I need a partner or partners. It would make me look better, stronger.
"No—I—uh…. DELLY!" he shouts as loud as he can.
I begin to panic. What is he trying to do? I still stand there with my arms up in protection even though he's across the fallen tree from me. Then, the girl comes running over. I subsequently learn her name is Delly.
"Get out." Delly says to me in the same voice her friend did.
"Delly," I say. She seems shocked that I know her name. "I just want to be allies. I told this to your friend-"
"Jack."
"…I told this to Jack already. I really want to help you guys and have you guys help me in return." Delly picks up a bow and arrow and points it at me. She pulls an arrow back in the string and I stand there still.
"Please, just don't hit me. I just want to work together, please, that's all." I'm somehow threatened by a 12 year old holding a bow.
"Just watch." She says. She releases the arrow and I close my eyes shut. However, I hear the arrow land far away. I open my eyes and find its sky blue fletchers sticking out from a patch of grass a few yards away.
"And that," Delly tells me. "was my attempt to hit you." I just stare at her, confused as to what that was trying to show me.
"Can you teach someone how to use a bow?" she looks at me and her blue eyes open wide. She really does want my help, you can tell. Delly has blonde hair just like mine except for the fact that it's straight. Like mine, Delly's hair is pulled into a ponytail. However, hers is much shorter and only falls to the bottom of her neck and hangs in the back.
"I can try." I respond to her. She looks at Jack and then they whisper for a minute and I still stand on the opposite side of the fallen tree.
"You're with us, I guess." Delly says to me. I step over the fallen tree. The moss beneath my foot squishes down gently. I feel as if the atmosphere changes. The negativity and defense has faded and Jack and Delly are accepting of me, even though I'm new.
"By the way, I'm Atala."
I tell my allies to get their things together. They apparently haven't had water in a while, too, so I automatically think to bring them to my pond. I decide to leave out the fact that I've drenched my disgusting, dehydrated body in it.
We walk for about an hour to my pond. Along the way, I find out that the two found each other at the Cornucopia, each with an identical book bag. They both have a water bottle, a sleeping bag, and their own weapon. Delly has her bow and arrow; Jack has his sword. They've been trying to avoid everyone and make it to the end by hiding. I tell them my story and how I got to where I am now. Delly seems interested and Jack can care less, but he's listening anyway. While still walking, Delly asks me how I got to learn to use the throwing knives so well. Apparently she watched me with her district partner on the days where I failed and succeeded in front of the Careers. I tell her that the easiest way to do better was to believe in myself. It sounds cheesy but I had no faith in myself originally and I really just don't know what other answer to give her. The hard work and determination really paid off, but my main motivation was self-confidence. I tell her these things, and when we get to the rocks and the pond, I begin to try and teach her how to use a bow. I think back to the times I stared at Portia when she used her bow.
"Alright, so what you're gonna do is hold the bow in your left arm—you're right handed, right?"
"Yeah." She says to me.
"Okay so you'll hold it like that…" I position the bow in her arms and pull her right arm with the string back for her. Jack laughs. I look at him rolling on the ground in laughter and then look at how I'm standing with Delly. It's like those awful romantic things where the guy teaches the girl how to hold something. We all begin to laugh and consequently were all on the floor. After laughing for a while, Jack goes to get water from the pond for his water bottle. While he's over there, Delly begins to shout at him, still giggling.
"You know, Jack, you have no reason to laugh at us!"
"Uhuh and why's that?"
"Because of your full name!"
"NO! Don't tell her! Delly, if you tell her I swear—" Delly turns to me, interrupting him in the process.
"His full name's not Jack." She says to me, smiling.
"Oh really?" I say back to her, a smile approaching on my face. "So what is his full name?"
"Do you really wanna know?" Delly says, practically laughing too much to be understandable at this point. Jack begins to run over, laughing just as hard.
"Delly! I told you no!" He tackles her and begins to tickle her. They don't like each other in a relationship way, but you can tell just how well they get along from their interaction.
"Tell me it, quick!" I shout to Delly, who's already crying from laughing.
"It's…it's…I…it's" she manages to say while she's still laughing.
"Don't you dare!" Jack says, tickling her more.
"IT'S JACKALOPE!" she screams. I begin dying. It's the most ridiculous name I've ever heard. And obviously you don't make fun of someone's name because it's rude, but I figure they're all laughing about it, so why not. We all sit there laughing for a while, just the three of us. When we quiet down, we realize just how loud we were. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the arena heard us. Then I think about it again. In that moment I honestly forgot I was in these Games.
The rest of the day consists of me teaching Delly how to use the bow. I teach to the best of my ability before I can honestly teach no more without bull-shitting techniques. I leave my two allies to set up a fire (they apparently know how to) while I go to hunt. I come back with a bird and a squirrel and I see a nice fire before me. We cook the meat of both the animals and I end up with the whole bird and Delly and Jack split the squirrel because it has more meat on it. The three of us talk about our lives back at home. I learn that Delly is from District 9 and Jack is from District 10. We share stories of our everyday lives and our friends back at home. It's only been a short few weeks but I'm already nostalgic about Annie and my mother. But not my father. I don't forgive him still. Even if it was an accident that he didn't come to see me when I was reaped, I still don't find a way to forgive him. I don't know why.
Jack is the first to fall asleep and Delly and I decide to stay up to watch the anthem play. Delly tells me that she always wakes up from it, so there's no use of trying to fall asleep beforehand. The two of us see the Capitol seal just hover in the sky without showing names. I hope something happens soon, because if it doesn't, we're surely going to see a trick or two from the Gamemakers. I turn to Delly to ask her what we should do tomorrow, but she's already asleep. I look back up at the sky and think about how the six days I've spent here have seemed so quick. We're all laying on a separate rock around the pond. I move my left hand away from my body and dip it in the pond, swirling around the water a little while I still stare at the sky. The water is cold but the air is warm. I smile at the thought of cold water. Annie told me of a prank he pulled on her brother where she dipped his hand in cold water while he was asleep and he peed his pants. I shuffle my body away from the pond a little and fall asleep easily.