Chapter 14 – Day 7 – 12 Tributes
Instead of waking up to the birds chirping and squawking, I wake up to the birds screeching and swarming the area around the pond. They're not even graceful, they're loud and terrifying, pecking at my face and arms. I stand up immediately and I look over to see Delly screaming. Jack is screaming just as much. The birds seem to be coming from every direction, and looking up I can't even tell what time it is because the birds form a dark cloud over the sky.
I quickly assume this is the Gamemakers' obstacle, their challenge.
I'm displeased.
With my arms to block my face, I throw some of Jack and Delly's stuff into their book bags. The birds peck at everything and don't stop: my ears my eyes my head my neck. I'm afraid they're going to rip me open any second. The thing I can compare them most to is a zombie or an animal with rabies. They've all gone mad.
Suddenly, Jack pulls my arm and I see that they both have their respective book bags on. Delly is already running into the forest, and Jack pulls me along towards her. I check my back pocket quickly to make sure my knife is still there, and it is. Now, we have to escape the birds.
They're all black. From their eyes to their feathers to their feet to their beaks: all black. I know this as a sign of bad things from all the books I've read. Anyone can tell this is a bad sign. They're out to kill, not just hurt. The people want a show, and a show is what they'll get.
I get my first cut on my forehead. One of the birds swoops down to get ahold of my forehead but misses, and it's sharp beak just scrapes against my forehead. I have a cut there and then I get a sharp pain in my thigh. It's excruciating. As we continue to run past logs and branches and rocks, I look down. There's a bird literally stuck in my right thigh, it's beak driven in just far enough to get stuck. My reaction is to slap at it until it falls off and then scream as loud as possible when I see blood begin to flow from it. I stumble a bit and Jack yells at me.
"WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING!" he cries to me. It's almost too much work to try and hear him due to all the calls from all of the birds. Imagine five birds that squawk. Five can wake you up in the morning. Now imagine hundreds, chirping in the same way. It's something that can lead you to insanity.
We continue to run and then Delly trips on a branch. She had been leading us, but in the chaos of everything, Jack and I get a little ahead of her before we realize she's fallen. We turn back and see her flailing on the ground and I can't stand to see her die from stupid birds.
"STAY HERE!" I shout to Jack. He nods his head and jumps around waving his arms and body around to dodge the birds. He's still okay, no injuries or wounds. My thigh is bleeding profusely.
I run to Delly and gather her up. She has some major jabs in her back, but nothing too serious. We stand up together and then I turn around, ready to run to Jack. What I see, though, terrifies me.
I don't know how, but Jack is actually being shredded to bits. I can see him move around a bit, scared half to death at first from the number of birds on him, but then nothing. Too many have taken a bite of him, and he's slowly brought to a heap of blood and flesh. I vomit right then and there and hear Delly scream a bloodcurdling scream. I drag her to the side and keep her running. We run and run and run and finally make it through a clearing of bushes and tall plants as the birds begin to let out. Less and less of them fly until finally there are about none left. Delly and I sit there trying to catch our breath and Delly mumbles to me, tears rolling down her red face. I can't look at her like this. She has no concern for her bleeding back, just for Jack.
"We—need—to—go—back. He's still—alive" she manages to say. She's crying ridiculously, and I begin to cry too.
"No, Delly, what's done is done—"
"NO!" she screams directly to my face. "WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" She stands up and begins to walk away but I grab her by the arm. A pain in my thigh strikes me.
"Stop it." I say to her, keeping myself strong. "Stop." She keeps moving away from me. Finally I pull her as sharply as I can and push her to the ground. "DON'T YOU GET IT, HE'S DEAD; HE'S GONE!"
She sits there trembling, registering the words I've just shouted at her. Then, she sobs.
I sit down and sob with her. We sob together for hours. Just the two of us.
We both cry until I finally stop and collect myself. I sit there still, holding Delly in my arms. She begins to mumble to herself. She mumbles words of denial, crazy people words. I can vaguely understand her but I know she's going through so much pain, so I let her mumble to me, and I agree with her, giving her the constant "I know" and "It's gonna be alright."
By nightfall, Delly has reached a stage of consistent gasps for breath and heavy breathing. I sit there, still holding onto her, rubbing her back along the way. Eventually, she drinks some water from her bag and sits still. She periodically stands up and looks around, then sits back down as if nothing is wrong. Finally, we both lie down and try to fall asleep. I stare at the stars just as I did the night before and wonder where in the arena I'd be if Jack were still here. We wouldn't even be here if he was, we'd be at an entirely different spot.
I jump when the anthem starts. I was so deep in thought that I hadn't noticed it got so late. After the anthem, I see the first few faces I've seen in a while. One of which is Jack's and the other Pony's. I remember her from the interviews; she was the District 3 girl. There was nothing special about her; I just felt the need to memorize the first few tributes. I don't remember hearing the canon boom for her, but then I realize I didn't hear a canon boom for Jack either. The birds were too loud to hear anything, really.
I continue looking at the stars and I notice Delly's been holding my left arm like a doll. She breathes on my shoulder a soft breath and I turn to look at her. You can see the sorrow in her face. Even while she's dreaming she can still feel the reality. I feel so sorry for her.