"All right sleeping beauties, get off you're butts and let's move!" Mike yells at his companions, I wonder if he was ever taught manners as a young boy. Probably not. Or maybe he just doesn't care if he's rude.
"Let's hunt," Mike says, they begin stuffing sleeping bags and water bottles into their packs, "Morgan, you stick with me," he winks at a sturdily built girl that appears about...sixteen? She blushes.
Thank gosh! They're leaving!
They have all their gear put together, and four of them start walking, then another two, then Morgan leans down to tie her shoe, Right. Under. My. Tree. LEAVE! I wish I could yell at her.
As she stands up, she's literally already taking the step away from our tree when she suddenly stops, turns around, and looks right at us.
"GUYS! Look! They are a couple of -!" a small dart enters her neck.
I can tell by the way Morgan immediately slumps to the ground that it was poisoned. The dart came from the other side of their make-shift camp site. I spot the assassin perched in a tree about 4 yards from the one Peter and I are in.
She looks about thirteen and carries a small straw-like tube and a pouch I assume is filled with millions of poisonous darts. She meets my eyes and gives me a nod.
She begins jumping away from us, from tree to tree. Just as her golden hair is disappearing into the woods, I see a number ten on the back of her jacket. I'll remember that. I'll remember the girl from district ten that saved my life.
While I've been distracted watching the district ten girl save my life, the Careers have come back to watch the blood drain from Morgan's face.
"Stay with me, please Morgan, don't go. You're strong, you can do this. Don't leave me here, Morgan? Morgan? MORGAN!? Morgan?" Mike holds her hand, yells her name, but she's gone.
Morgan's cannon goes off.
The Careers haven't spotted Peter and me. We slipped to the other side of the tree mid-chaos. We now hide in a cluster of vines and moss. I wish we'd have found this greenery last night. I wouldn't have had to worry about the Careers.
The moss is soft enough to sleep on. We stay here as Mike begins blaming people for his girlfriend's death.
"This was your fault!" he yells at Jenny.
"How do you figure that!?" she yells back.
"If you'd have stayed at the back of the group to guard her, you'd have caught Crystal and killed her before she killed Morgan!" he yells.
So, her name is Crystal, what a beautiful name. If Peter and I fail to win, my money's on her. She's clever, and small, and she can shoot anyone, then hop away before they know what hit them.
"That's so stupid! All I could've done is watch!" Jenny yells back.
"Well, then why doesn't everyone watch THIS?!" Mike pulls his sword from his belt.
"Fine," Jenny says, pulling out her sword and a few knives.
"Traitor!" Mike yells as he runs at her.
"You're such an idiot!" Jenny yells back, dodging his sword and throwing a knife in his direction that rips across his arm opening a gash of blood that covers Mike's jacket.
He switches which arm his sword is in and wipes the blood off his jacket.
Jenny throws another knife in his direction. This one skids across his face, only cutting his cheek slightly. He lunges for her, not bothering to cover his wounds. I stare at the rest of the Careers, Frank, Taylor, Daron, and Fallon. I wonder why they aren't stopping Mike and Jenny. I suppose they'd like them both out of the way, so they just watch.
Mike rolls towards Jenny and cuts her leg badly. I can tell because when she leans forward and stabs him in the back, it seems she's half trying and half falling onto him due to her loss of balance.
He sinks to his knees, falls forward on his stomach, huffs his last breath, and then I hear his cannon.
Jenny is trying so desperately to staunch the flow of blood from her leg that she doesn't realize that a boy and girl, I think Frank and Taylor, are standing right over her, their knives and spears at the ready. She eventually notices though.
"Go ahead," Jenny tells them, dropping her cloths and bandages.
Frank stabs her ankle and the Careers sprint away, knowing she can no longer pursue them. As the Careers walk away, I catch a glimpse of Crystal's golden hair in the trees. Then she truly hops away. She must have wanted to know who was left, so she stayed.
Peter and I watch the Careers disappear in the direction Crystal took, leaving Morgan, Mike, and a disabled Jenny by themselves. The hovercraft appears above us and scoops up the bodies of Mike and Morgan.
Jenny seems to have fallen to sleep. I doubt she'll last very long. She's lost too much blood.
All the sudden, the cannon goes off, but it isn't for Jenny. I wonder about the possibility of the Careers having caught Crystal. But I dismiss the thought, knowing she has shiftily been jumping away through the trees for a long time. They couldn't possibly have gotten to her already.
I guess I'll know whose cannon it was tonight. Peter and I descend the tree, walk around Jenny, although she's on her way out.
Peter grabs a knife that Jenny had thrown in Mike's direction. It had missed. He lifts it, attempts to stick it in a tree, but fails miserably. He hands it to me, I line it up, and I get a solid stick in the tree. I keep it, since I guess I'm all right with it. We're in a far better position than last night, having a weapon, a possible ally, and knowing the Careers are not as powerful as before.
Peter and I begin to go in the opposite direction from the one Crystal and the remaining Careers took, but I doubt they're after her now that Mike is gone. They've probably just begun in that direction because they're anxious to hunt.
I begin to wonder who the boy from district twelve is. I wonder if he wishes to be my ally. Probably not, since I only bring people trouble these days.
We continue until we come across a river. I drink thirstily along with Peter, and I can just barely hear it, but I do.
"Thanks for saving us," I say to the broken branch that falls from the trees above me.
Crystal peers out from the foliage, "No problem," she replies.
"Nice darts," Peter tells her.
"Allies?" she asks, holding her blow gun defensively.
"Sure, as if we have any choice," I wink at her.
I'm starving, and for the first time, I think my stomach is actually 100% empty.
She scurries down the tree like a frightened squirrel. She joins us at the water and drinks thirstily, clearly having spent most of her time in the arena in the tree tops.
"Have any food?" I ask, even though we JUST became allies. I can't help it, I'm starving.
"I found an apple tree at the beginning of the games, but I've only got five left," she answers, pulling them from her back pockets.
"Here," she hands Peter and I each one.
She eats one herself.
I'm still famished, but this is a grand improvement over starving.
"Thanks Crystal," we answer.
"Don't mention it, I can find more," she seems nice enough, "and...can you guys climb trees?" she's hoping for a yes.
"Umm, well...I can climb them, but maybe not jump from tree to tree," I tell her.
"It's not that hard, I can show you how if you want," she offers.
"I guess, and how did you get away from the Careers?" Peter answers.
"I looped around after I got far enough away. They never found out I turned, and they kept going that way," she points to the opposite side of the arena.
"That's good for us," Peter says, "They almost spotted us."
"So, have any idea who died? When the stray cannon went off?" I ask her.
"I thought that was Jenny," she had seen her get injured.
"No, Jenny is out there, somewhere, though that leg of hers isn't going to last long. She'll be in the sky soon enough," I tell her.
"Oh, well then no, maybe another Career?" she asks.
"Maybe, did you shoot anymore while you were hopping away from them?" I ask.
"Nope, I just came back around," she tells me.
"We'd better get into a tree. It's getting dark," she chooses a large pine tree with sap covered branches, some of which look to be dead.
"Are you sure?" I ask, "It doesn't look very stable."
"We're not staying in this one. We're going to that one," she points to a large oak with strong, thick branches on the top, but none on the bottom.
"We're gonna jump?" Peter asks as we scale the pine.
"Is there a problem with that?" Crystal asks as if jumping from tree to tree is something we would've learned in infancy.
"As long as it's not too difficult..." The color in Peter's face drains as we near the top of the tree.
"We'll be fine," I tell him.
Crystal jumps to the other tree with ease, then looks to us expectantly.
I look down, terrified, but I decide to show no fear and impress my new ally. I scoot to the end of the branch and jump over to Crystal.
I clutch the thick branch, thanking the heavens I didn't fall.
Peter jumps over as well, but he appears scared to death.
"That was...easier than I thought it'd be," I say.
"Told ya," Crystal lies on a fork in the branches and closes her eyes. I sit down in a fork next to her, and Peter sits next to me.
"Good job," I tell Peter once Crystal's asleep.
"You too," he replies.
Peter and Crystal fall asleep at once.
But I can't help staying awake to hear the anthem and watch the dead tribute's faces shine in the sky.
First the anthem blasts from the sky. Then Mike's face appears with the number four below it; then there's Morgan from six. Now, I wonder who the last one will be. There's a large boy that appears, apparently he's from district nine. Then the Capital seal floats up and the anthem ends.
I start running through my fingers, trying to figure out how many of us are left.
There's Peter and Jenny from one, though I wouldn't bet on Jenny being a threat anymore; Frank and Taylor from two, Daron and Fallon from three, the boy and girl from five, the boy and girl from seven, the girl from nine, Crystal from ten, the girl from eleven, and then there's me and the boy from twelve.
Fifteen of us left. Two of us are from district twelve. I pray I don't end up with the task of killing the boy from my district. Then I'd have to go home and face the glares thrown at me for killing someone I might've been neighbors with.
I fall asleep confused and frightened, and when I wake up with Peter's arm around me, I don't move away. I need a friend, Crystal is a nice girl, but I don't 100% trust her yet. She's so strange, the way she teamed with us no question, when she could've killed us easily from her position. I trust Peter, not because I've known him for a lifetime, not because he saved me from some great evil, not because he's incredibly strong or handsome, but because he's been here for me when I needed him most.
I lie next to Peter as the sun rises. When he wakes up, I rise as if I'd been asleep just moments ago.
"Morning," I say sleepily.
He smiles back. Crystal lifts her arms and stretches.
"Let's get moving," she instructs us.
"Mmkay," Peter says, we descend the tree.
We begin moving into a part of the woods I'm unfamiliar with.
I notice the extreme heat waves rising everywhere I look and feel as if I'm sitting in front of an open fire.
"Crystal, where are we going?" I ask.
"There's a volcano this way. It's where I got the apples yesterday," she answers.
Oh...a volcano, that's why it's so hot...Wait a second, VOLCANO?!
"What!?" Peter and I yell at her.
"There is a large rock with molten lava pouring out of it with apple trees a few yards away from the top. If you want food, that's where we're going," she answers as if it's no big deal.
"Oh...uh...okay," I answer. Peter gives me a nod.
"She knows what she's doing. It'll be fine," he tells me.
We continue until my clothes are sticking to my skin with sweat.
There's a large stream that runs near the "volcano." We drink thirstily. I completely cover myself in the cool water, as do Peter and Crystal.
"Ahhhh, it feels so good," I say lowering myself into the stream.
"Come on," Crystal says, but not before soaking herself.
Now that I'm coated in this cool water, it's less miserable to walk closer to the source of heat.
We exit the woods, into a large open field. In the center, there's a giant black rock spewing lava from inside it.
We carefully climb the back of it, though the rock burns my hands when they come in contact with it.
At the top, there's a huge apple tree with every kind of apple imaginable. I guess they put this here on purpose. Watching tributes fight over apples on top of a volcano, what could be better than that?
We pick apples until our pockets are bursting, then go down to the bottom of the volcano and eat two each. There's a large chasm in the ground near us, with lava at the bottom, it goes down a long way, and I have a feeling that if you fall down there, you aren't coming back.
I sense the danger before Peter and Crystal. I hear the twigs snap, I turn, just in time to see Frank grab Crystal and snap her blow gun in half, grab her by the hair on her head, and dangle her over the deadly dent.
"Crystal!" I yell and lunge for Frank with my knife drawn, though I can't do anything against him, since he grabs my knife. A girl, Fallon, grabs me and holds me behind Frank, as if I'm standing in line to fall into the chasm of doom.
Peter is held behind me, by another girl, Taylor.
Frank and the rest of them are laughing.
"They're so little. Look at this one. Her teeth aren't all grown in yet, how adorable!" Frank yanks a hunk of hair from Crystal's head. She shrieks and kicks and bites his hand, but she's not trying to be free. She seems to be trying to get him to drop her into the chasm...
I guess it's better to die quickly than to be prodded and poked at until your enemy lets you fall to your death.
Crystal looks me right in the eye and mouths a word to me, but I don't catch it.
"Come on Frank, let her go. This one is squirming," Taylor complains about Peter kicking her shin.
What happens next is so sudden, I'm not prepared. Frank lets go of the clump of Crystal's hair, and she falls down to the lava pit, then there's a cannon, and I know she's gone. Frank steps back, allowing Fallon a clear path to the chasm. She drags me over, shoves me to the edge of the ground, and...
Peter spits at Fallon, as she holds me next to the edge. But then all the sudden, Fallon falls to the ground, releasing me. I knee Taylor in the arm, and she lets Peter go. Peter and I run together to the woods. I hear the sound of the Careers following us, but then I hear a cannon. I look back for a moment and spot Fallon, lying on the field with Daron sitting with her, screaming terrible things at Peter as we run from the field.
Peter and I scale a tree, get up to the slimmest branches, and taunt the Careers, who can't get to us.
"How'd you kill Fallon?" I ask him in astonishment.
"I had a dart I got from Crystal in between my teeth. I got it from Crystal. I never touched the poison part. I kept it hanging out of my mouth. I guess it came in handy," he tells me.
"Ya, I guess so," I agree.
Is this real? Have we lost Crystal? Has Peter killed Fallon? In the back of my mind, I know these things have happened, but I keep trying to think of way to make them nonexistent.
The remaining Careers, Frank, Taylor, and Daron, sleep under our tree. But when the sun goes down, we hop from tree to tree, and after a while, we're miles away from where the Careers think we are.
The anthem blasts from the sky. Fallon and Crystal shine in the sky.
Peter and I eventually decide to stop. We find a nice soft oak tree with moss and soft bark, find a nice fork, and I lay down, exhausted.
"Who's your mentor?" Peter asks me.
"Hagger, he..." I don't know what I was going to say, but I stop.
"He what?" Peter asks.
"He's probably happy we're allies," I say.
"Oh, ya, Bree will be happy we're allies as well, she really liked you're sister while she was in the Capitol training. Ya know, before she killed Brandon..." he says.
"Bree? Sounds like a pretty name," I say, changing the subject.
"Ya, she's as pretty as her name. Her husband adores her," Peter tells me.
"Hey Hagger, Bree, if you're not too busy, it wouldn't hurt to send us something! If you're even watching..." Peter yells into the air.
It's funny how quickly the parachute appears in the sky and lands on the tree next to us.
I hop over to retrieve it and bring it back to Peter.
"Food, real food, and a pack!" I say. There's a large piece of roasted chicken, eight rolls, no doubt from the Capitol, and the best of all, a water bottle filled to the rim with cool fresh water and ice. There's also a backpack strapped to the bottom, appearing empty, probably to carry our food in.
Peter and I both drink about a quart of water. This bottle holds almost four quarts.
"Should we eat some of it?" I stare at the food. It's still warm.
"I don't think it's a question, I'm starving," he says, ripping the chicken in four equal pieces, each of us have a fourth of the chicken and one roll, wrapping the rest up in the cloth from the parachute and stuffing it in the backpack, finding there are matches in the front compartment.
"Thank you, Hagger," I say into the night air as Peter and I fall asleep with full bellies.
"Oh Bree, oh Bree, thank you," Peter says, clutching the pack as he falls asleep.
I stare at Peter awhile, watching him stir restlessly as we get into the night hours, look at the bags under his eyes. I shake him awake.
"What's wrong? You're gonna fall out of the tree if you keep squirming like that," I tell him with a faint giggle.
"Ya, sorry, I was just dreaming..." he says, putting his head down.
"It's fine, I just don't want you to fall out of the tree with our only pack," I say teasingly.
I put my cheek against the rough bark and fall to sleep.
"Sophie, shhh..." I wake, seeing Peter's face right in front of mine.
"What? Why are you..." he puts his hand over my mouth.
"Shhhh..." he says more forcefully.
I silence myself and look down, below our tree.
A few yards away from the trunk there're four great big bears, one is dark gray, another is pure white, the smallest is a blond color, the largest, scariest looking is a jet black color.
I look at them, flash back to when I was staring right at a bear, about to back up and over the cliff, down to the river...
I'm shaking, remembering how very terrified that moment had made me. I feel certain Freddy himself has sent this pack of bears right to me, to scare me... I won't let him.
I sit up straight, look right at the biggest, scariest, blackest furred bear I've ever seen.
"Hey ugly! Come get me!" I yell at it.
"Shhh, why would you do that! Sophie! Now, they won't leave us alone. Why didn't you just let them pass us!" Peter yells angrily at me, running his hand through his hair.
The bears look at us, stare at us. I look right into the eyes of the big, black one. They are unforgiving, but I stare right back, not showing any fear. The bear scratches at the trunk of our tree angrily, I have made him look weak. He wants revenge.
"Sorry, I just..." I can't let Freddy know that I was scared for even half a second, and he's 100% guaranteed to be locked to the screen right now, watching me. "I just... we can jump away in the trees" I suggest.
"Fine, sorry I got mad. I just... It's fine, come on," he says, jumping to a tree next to us. I follow him.
We jump from tree to tree for a while. Then I hear voices. Not the ones in your head that mean you're insane, but real ones. I stop jumping, grab Peter's arm, and I force both of us against the trunk of the tree we're currently in.
"What's wrong?" he asks, looking around the trunk, attempting to find my source of discomfort.
"Peter, shh, didn't you hear that? They're right..." the remaining three Careers pass right under our tree.
Peter and I become statues once again, not daring to even breathe.
Suddenly, a cannon goes off.
"Must be Jenny, took her long enough," Taylor says, reaching for her water bottle.
"Mmm, probably, where should we go next? We've already looked through most of the woods. You guys wanna move on to the desert?" Frank asks Taylor and Daron.
"Sure, but I think the two kids, Peter and... that girl, they're probably in the woods somewhere," Daron answers.
Hey Daron, you're right! Not only are we in the woods, but we're right above you! I wish I could yell at him.
"Her name was Sophie I think, district twelve. I wonder why she wasn't at the training... neither was her friend Peter," Taylor says.
"Who cares? They're here now, and I plan on finding them. We haven't found them in the woods, and last time we saw them they were in the trees, so even if we found them, it wouldn't be easy to kill them..." Frank tells his companions.
"Good point, so... the desert?" Daron asks.
"Sure," Taylor says, putting her water bottle back in her pack.
Frank, Taylor, and Daron run off, apparently headed for the desert.
After we're positive they've gotten out of earshot, Peter and I let out sighs of relief.
"Thank gosh, we're free... from the Careers at least for a while," Peter says triumphantly.
"Yay for us," I say, but I'm exhausted and I don't have enough energy left to cheer about our slight advantage, that I know will soon fade away.
There's the loud boom of a cannon, then silence.
"We'll know who that was for soon enough," Peter motions to the setting sun, "I bet the one that went off earlier was Jenny's, this one... it could be anyone."
We break open our pack, which has been on Peter's back all day and grab a fourth of the chicken and split it in half. We're not real hungry today, so we only have some chicken and a roll each.
All we have left as far as food is four apples, four rolls, and a bit of chicken... food runs out so quickly.
"Why don't we sleep in there tonight?" Peter asks, motioning to an opening in the side of a hill below us.
"Okay, sure," I say, because sleeping 50 feet off the ground is getting a bit...scary.
We descend our tree and crawl into the small, warm cave.
It's a bit damp, since there's a small opening in the rocks where fresh water runs in and makes a little puddle. We fill our water bottle and dry off a spot on the other side of the cave.
"Good night Sophie," Peter says, lying down with his arm under his head.
"You go to sleep, I want to..." I pause, then continue anyway, "I want to wash off in the water, I'm filthy," I say.
"Oh," he says, "Then um... ya, go ahead, I won't watch, I'll just..." he positions himself so he's staring at the cave wall, "there we are." He appears to fall asleep.
I giggle, though it's stupid that I find the fact that Peter had to reposition himself against the wall amusing.
"Peter, are you still awake?" I loudly whisper to him.
I get no response.
I take off my dirty jacket, boots, and socks and scrub them off in the water, then leave them to dry on the cool cave floor.
I remove my shirt and pants and wade into the small puddle of water, finding that it's almost a foot deep in the middle and sit down to scrub the disgusting bark and dirt off my hands and legs and feet. Then I wash my face. I dunk my head under water and scrub out all the twigs and bark from my hair.
I stand up, dry myself off with my still-wet jacket and dress back into my shirt and pants. I'll put my jacket, socks, and boots back on in the morning once they're dryer.
I hear the Capitol anthem begin and stare through the entrance of our cave into the night sky and watch first Jenny's, then a girl from district eleven's face shine in the sky. They disappear. This isn't important enough to wake Peter for. I'll tell him tomorrow.
I lie down next to Peter and fall to sleep.
I'm awoken by a damp Peter.
"Hey, good idea with the whole get clean concept," he says, shaking his hair dry.
Boys are lucky with their short hair. I hate my hair, I always have to let it air dry since I've never had the patience to blow-dry it with those fancy new hair dryers we could finally afford after Jason won the Deathmatch.
"Mmm, you finally smell like something other than bark and bird poop!" I exclaim sarcastically.
"How was I supposed to know the bird's nest was right above me?" he says laughing.
"You could've, well you might've been able to, I guess we should've..." I stumble on my words.
He falls over laughing, amused at my inability to come up with a logical response.
I huff in defeat.
"You're the one the bird took a crap on..." I say, trying to even the playing field.
"Fine, fine, all's fair in love and...fighting to the death..?" Peter says in a comical voice.
"What are we going to do at final two,... If we make it there together?" I ask him, it's an honest question.
"I keep wishing there was a way to have both of us win...but there isn't," he says, snapping back to reality.
"Well, the odds are still against that happening, so don't worry too much about it," I say, standing up, exiting the cave.
"If we're in final two... then you should go home to your family," Peter says after a while of walking through the woods.
"No, I can't kill you. I don't really want to kill anyone..." I tell him.
"I get that, but it's not that hard. It's kinda like stepping on a bug," he says.
"It's nothing like that," I begin, "bugs aren't...humans. They don't fight back, unless they have a stinger," I say.
He gives a hint on laughter at my stinger remark, "Well, not all humans fight back, like Jenny," Peter says.
"I don't think that everyone in the arena is going to spontaneously fall over with a cut on their leg," I say.
Peter pretends to fall over, holding his leg dramatically, "Ah! My leg! It spontaneously got stabbed!" he says, waiting for my response.
"Very funny," I say, we continue on through the woods until night fall.
"Oh, I almost forgot to ask, who was it that died? I slept through it last night," he asks me.
"A girl from eleven and Jenny," I tell him.
He nods, "Where shall we sleep tonight? A tree, a cave, or should we build a hut and live here for the rest of our lives?" he teases.
"Hmm, I was thinking we would build a house underwater with our friend Mr. Shark and Miss Turtle," I tease back.
"Fair enough," he replies.
"What's that?" I point to a pillar of smoke in the distance.
"Must be someone other than the Careers, they went in the opposite direction this morning," Peter says.
"Let's get closer, not on the ground though. We can take to the trees," I suggest.
"Sure, but we haven't got any weapons left," he reminds me.
"Well, we didn't have weapons when we were above the Careers and we were fine, so come on," I say, scaling a large birch tree.
"All right," he says, following me.
We hop from tree to tree and eventually get right above where the smoke is coming from. There's a boy and a girl sitting at the fire, the girl appears to be asleep, leaning against a tree.
The boy sits guard, watching the woods. He's obviously not doing a great job with watching the woods, because Peter and I are just about right above him, and he hasn't remotely noticed.
There's a crack of a branch, a change in the wind. Then they're there. Another boy and girl break through the woods and begin to run into the clearing where the girl and the boy started their fire.
"Stephanie, run! Go! Get out of here!" The boy yells to the still half asleep girl.
"What's going on Kenneth! Kenneth! No, I don't want to go without you! Who's coming! What's wrong?!" She shrieks at Kenneth.
"The girl and boy from seven are coming. Stephanie, come on, run!" The boy, apparently named Kenneth, the girl, apparently Stephanie, run away from their fire and into the woods.
The boy and girl from seven run after them, knives drawn. As far as I can see, that's the only weapon either of them have.
Then Stephanie turns around, sling-shot loaded with a sharp needle-like dart, and shoots at the boy from seven.
She hits him in the leg.
He immediately stumbles, falls, and pulls the dart out. Though I'd bet it had poison on it, like Crystal's blow-gun.
"Lenny! What happened, are you okay?" The girl from seven stops chasing Stephanie and Kenneth, coming back to Lenny.
"Maple, you have to win. Just don't leave my family to starve," he talks quickly.
A cannon goes off. Maple backs away from Lenny. Then she sprints away in the direction Stephanie and Kenneth took, seeking revenge.
Peter and I hop away in the opposite direction using the short, stubby limbs that grow on the tip of the oak trees.
The anthem blasts into the night air. Lenny's face shines in the sky with the district number seven below him. Then the anthem ends, and the sky goes black, the night animals come out, and the sounds diminish. It's time to get some rest...
"We should get some sleep while we have the chance," I tell Peter.
"Good idea," he answers, arranging some leaves and moss around on a fork in an oak tree.
"Night, Peter," I say, already drifting off to sleep.
"Night, Sophie," he says, lying down next to me.
In the morning I wake up with the tip of my nose frozen.
I'm shaking so hard I worry I'll fall out of the tree. I grab Peter, whose also shaking like crazy.
"S-s-sophie, w-w-we n-n-need t-t-to g-g-g-get t-t-t-to uh-uh-a k-k-c-cave. I'm f-f-f-free-e-e-ezing," he says.
We help each other down the tree, walk for a while, find a cave, walk into it, curl up in the corner, and shiver.
"It's like there's a winter storm shooting over the arena," Peter says after we defrost for a while.
"Ya, maybe it'll warm up when the sun rises a bit more," I say hopefully.
We take turns napping while the other keeps guard until we're both restless.
"I'm starving," I say.
"Me too, let's eat," he says, grabbing the food out of the pack.
Peter surprises me when he breaks the rest of the chicken and rolls in half, along with an apple each. All he leaves in the pack is two apples.
"Eat slowly, it'll make it last longer," Peter says.
We both eat slowly, but the food's gone fast.
"Hagger, please send us food," I whisper in the cave.
"Bree," Peter says.
Nothing arrives.
"We'll be fine for a while, but eventually... we'll have to find food," Peter tells me.
"Ya, I know how to gather greens and berries, but we'll need some sort of snare or weapon to get any meat. I don't even know how to set a snare though," I tell him. Snares always came so easily to Maysilee.
We sit around for what feels like forever. A few hours later I hear a noise.
There's a thump outside our cave, and immediately I'm prepared to meet an adversary.
No one appears.