Act 16
"Hunger Pains"

It had been a while since I had truly eaten. The bag Dezji had grabbed for me only had so much food, which I had eaten. I had tried to conserve my energy, but still that didn't help the hunger pains growing inside of me. It was hard even to walk sometimes due to the cramps. I would try to catch something, like one of the many squirrels and rabbits that I saw running around, but I didn't have those types of skills. Besides cooking them would require a fire and that could signal the other tributes to where I was. I wasn't about to give up my position to the enemies, even if I was starving.

"I need to try to catch something," I muttered.

I remember the snaring station back in the Capital. I hadn't thought much about it at the time, but now I had sort of wish I did. Learning to make a snare would be nice to catch food. I wasn't thinking about how I was going to get food during the Games when I was training, but then again, I wasn't thinking I was going to survive even six days.

I walked through the forest. After having finally abandoned the thought of finding a cave to hide in, I had come to accept my new surroundings were to be the trees. I had been sleeping in the highest of branches and hiding in cavities of trees. The snow helped a lot in the hiding department too. It wasn't as bad as I had first thought when starting the Games. I couldn't stay in one place all day and thus didn't have a secure hiding place like I would with a deep cave, but I at least had a lot of hiding places to choose from in the forest and I didn't have to worry about being out in the open when traveling like I did on the mountain side. The valley collected a lot of snow, but was a whole lot warmer than the mountains as well. Well, I wouldn't say warmer; maybe "less cold".

After the whole thing the day before, I surprisingly hadn't seen any tributes. I had half expected for Helena to be still after me. However she didn't seem to get angry over people's deaths instead seems to get angry over things involving her personally. Maybe she had given up on finding me for revenge on insulting her. Aur however seemed like the type of person to get angry over every little thing she possibly could. She would be the type of person to get angry over the deaths of Coriander and Delphine and blame me for them.

Suddenly interrupting my thoughts was the presence of faint whistling. Upon hearing the pale tune I got on edge. I was stocked with weapons, everything from a slingshot to a sword. But I wasn't very proficient with the sword and the slingshot was only good for long range and would only cause injury to anything bigger than a bunny. So the only weapons I was able to wield would be my knives.

I snuck up on the sound, being sure not to make much sound myself. The whistling was a happy tune, a rather exuberant jingle at first, though upon a clearer hearing of it, I discovered it had a morbid melody to it, like death was whistling it himself. The tune seemed to have a very melancholy theme to it but with an upbeat tempo. I didn't know who was whistling it, but I could imagine them as someone that would put me on edge.

I spread the bushes in front of me and peak through. On the other side was the Cornucopia.

I didn't think I was this close to the Cornucopia, I thought.

Standing there amidst the charred Cornucopia, whistling the ditty I was hearing, was the red-headed Gypsy. She was walking around the mouth of the Cornucopia, whistling as she paced. She seemed strangely at home in the ruined area. She looked as if she was protecting something as she paced with a bow in hand. Upon closer look I realized she was. Inside the Cornucopia I could see a few bags that must have been salvaged from the fire and crates of what I could would be food from sponsors. That only went to prove to me that sponsors were important. Apparently Gypsy or whomever she was working with had made an impression on the sponsors, and a good one at that, because Gypsy seemed very well-fed. While I, who apparently had not made any impression or at the most a very bad impression, was starving and drooling as I stared at the supplies.

I could just charge her, I thought.

She wasn't holding the bow like she knew what she was doing with it. She held it more like an amateur I would see in some Capital propaganda. It may look cool how she held it, but even I, who knew very little of bow handling, knew she wouldn't do very well with it. With her holding it like that, I could probably attack her head on before she even got a chance to shoot an arrow. But with my weak physical standing and the cramps of hunger pains, it would probably be in my best interest to not take the head on approach. Maybe to go around the back of the Cornucopia and launch a surprise attack; with a knife I could easily slice her throat if I was careful.

That's it, I decided.

I walked around to the backside of the Cornucopia, remaining hidden in the bushes and trees as I did so. I made sure to remain silent as I walked. I didn't want Gypsy to get any idea I was there or the surprise attack part of the idea wouldn't work. I dug a hole under a bush to hide some of my stuff in. Just the sword and the bag with its original contents; I ended up taking both of the knives. I kept one holstered on my hip and held one in my left hand. With my right arm still hurt from the arrow wound, I was better off wielding and attack with my left.

With it drawn, I snuck up to the back of the Cornucopia and around the side. I couldn't see Gypsy from where I was, so I had to rely on my ears. She was continuing to whistle, so I could basically tell where she was with the sound of the dark and cheery tune. Suddenly the whistling stopped.

"Where is she?" I heard Gypsy mutter.

She? I wondered.

'She' could mean Helena or possibly Aur. Helena didn't seem like the type to partner up with a single person, let alone with Gypsy. Maybe a group made from people she could benefit from, but not a single person. Aur seemed like the type of person to partner up with someone, especially someone who appeared to switch sides constantly like Gypsy seemed to do. Whomever Gypsy was talking about, I couldn't worry about them. I had to get this over with and hurry to get the food and get out. If I was caught by any of the Careers in my condition, I would be screwed.

I crept slowly up to the edge of the Cornucopia. As I listened carefully, I could tell Gypsy began to walk away. Her back was to me; perfect time to strike.

I jumped out from behind the Cornucopia and brandished my knife. Gypsy hadn't even had time to turn around before I stabbed my knife through her back. She went to scream, but I managed to cover her mouth with my hand just in time. I couldn't have her alerting anyone that I was there. As she slowly began to drop to the ground, I pulled out the bloody knife and slit her throat. I couldn't have her dying too soon, but it didn't look like she was about to. If the gong went off, my time would be shortened. She had been muted with having her throat slit, so I let go of her completely.

I grabbed a large bag and took a quick look inside. It was filled with food, mainly breads and fruits. Breads were great seeing how they were filling. Bread would expand in your stomach, which would often help with weight gain. Fruits were also nice due to the vitamins they had, and god knows I need all the vitamins I could get.

Not wanting to be greedy and picky. I grabbed that bag and an extra bag just in case and took off running. As soon as I got back to the bush I hidden my stuff under, the gong announcing death sounded.

I guess Gypsy died, I thought as I retrieved my stuff.

I hurriedly got away from the Cornucopia and only stopped when I thought I had found some place safe. I climbed up into a lofty tree and got myself settled. Not having eaten in a while, I didn't want to rush myself. Last thing I needed was to get sick due to stuffing myself. That's exactly how I want to be remembered, death by too much bread. I ended up starting out with a couple of fruit until the cramps went away. I was still somewhat hungry, but I decided to wait a little bit before eating anymore.

Suddenly the earth far beneath me began to shake. Only ever so faintly at first, but soon they turned to true quakes. It was an earthquake. I hastily held on to the tree for dear life, allowing my bags to fall to the ground. Better mushy food than a mushy body. With the quakes came rumbling; not from the ground itself, but from the mountains. They were from what I could only assume were rockslides.

I guess it was good that I decided not to continue back up the mountain, I thought.

Rockslides were dangerous. From my tree, I could see a minor one happening from the direction I had come down from the mountain. With the rocks and boulders that were rolling down the mountain, so was snow making it even more dangerous? If the rocks and boulders hadn't crushed you, the snow would burry you alive. It was like a really bad nightmare that would cost you your life.

The shaking slowly began to die back down and I quickly descended the tree. The tree I had picked was well-rooted into the ground and hadn't even shifted a little bit in the ground due to the earthquake. A few other trees around me had fallen to the ground. Thankfully I was safe.

As I collected my stuff from the ground, I heard another ominous sound; the gong. Seemingly someone had died during the earthquake, probably as a result of the landslide.

I'm sorry to whoever died, I thought.

It was a sad way to end someone's life, but at least they weren't tortured with a slow, painful death by murder. By the way it sounded, the gong having come right after the earthquake, it sounded like their death was rather quick.

That night I had ended up staying in the tree from before with the earthquake. It was sturdy, so if there was another earthquake I would be safe. One of the bags had had rope, which I used to tie myself to the branch I sat on. If I fell off from that height, I wouldn't die but be paralyzed, which is just as bad if not worse.

I watched the portraits of the day's fallen tributes. First was Gypsy, which I had already known about. I had been responsible for her death. The other tribute was the District Nine boy, Danny. From what I could speculate, he was hiding in the mountains when the landslide had happened. He must have been caught off-guard and killed by the disaster. I didn't know whether his death was caused by sheer accident or by the Gamemakers hands, but one could only assume it was the latter with the situation we were in.

I fell asleep that night with a fully stomach, the first time in a while. Even at home, I am never filled. I felt guilty for having to kill Gypsy, but I did what I had to do to survive.

Six tributes remaining; Aur, Marcello, Helena, Calico, Dezji, and Silver. I present the final six! Only a few more chapter left until the end. Are you guys excited? I know I am.

Deaths in this Chapter

*Gypsy - Killed by Calico; Placed 8th.

*Danny - Killed by landslide; Placed 7th.