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I do not own The Hunger Games nor it's characters, I only write this for fun.
Chapter Eight
I continue to walk in to the woods, more aware now of every little thing hidden in the trees and the bushes. Even the smallest of insects makes me wary and so I try to avoid touching anything at all, which is easier said than done, but, luckily, I only gain a few nettle stings.
Night time descends and so I find a small clearing to get in to my sleeping bag. The temperature has dropped and so the material quickly warms me up. I hear two more cannons and then an hour or so later the anthem plays and Tulle's face appears in the sky, followed by two tributes from 10.
Once again, sleep evades me and I spend the night lightly dozing and clutching my knife so tightly that I start to get cramps in my hand. I wake up, eat some of my crackers and continue to venture on.
I have no idea if finding the edge of the arena will be of any use to me but at least it keeps me away from the other tributes. Hiding and avoiding everyone else seems to be my best chance of survival; I doubt that I would win in any hand to hand combat, although, maybe I could outrun one or two of them. Of course, I'm referring to non-Career tributes. Titam must have some sort of misguided faith in me to send me that water last night, why else would he send something so crucial to my survival? I'll definitely have to ask him if I ever get out of here alive.
The arena is starting to heat up again and I can feel myself growing increasingly dehydrated. I long for some shade but I'm fearful of getting too close to the trees as I have no idea what dreadful mutts and fruit they house.
Suddenly, a group of butterflies burst out from behind a bush and fly off in to the air. I know that Tilly loves butterflies; she loves how rare and beautiful they are. I remember once telling her that she just described herself and she went so red that Ii just fell in love with her even more. One of them lands on my hand but before I can admire it I feel a stinging sensation and my hand instantly turns a strange colour of blue that I've never seen before. I start to feel dizzy and I know that before long I'm going to be knocked out and, possibly, killed. Being killed by a squirrel would have been bad enough but being killed by a butterfly is just pitiful!
I'm losing control of my senses, stumbling through the clearing and in to the shade of a nearby tree. It's not an awful place to die, it's decorated by flowers that could make for a nice closing shot as I drift out of this world. And with that thought, everything fades to black.
When I wake up my hand is still stinging but it's nowhere near as painful as it was before I blacked out and it has returned to its normal flesh colour. It's day time but I have no idea how long I've been out, it could be a few hours or a few days. Thankfully, my senses have all returned and there are no long lasting effects from the bloody butterfly. I don't want a violent, gruesome or glorious death but I don't want to be forever remembered as the tribute that got killed by a butterfly. The Capitol would be laughing at me and my district for decades.
I drink what's left of my water and organise my knives across my belt so that I have easy access. I am hungry but I don't want to use up the rest of my rations until I absolutely have to as there's no guarantees that Titam can send me food, after all, he still has two other strong tributes to look after.
Suddenly, a deafening bang permeates the arena and I find my hands instantly jump to my ears as I look around for the source of the noise. It doesn't last very long and I can soon see why; the mountain on the other side of the arena is actually a volcano that has just erupted a blood red lava. Within seconds the cannons are firing continuously and I can't even keep count of how many have sounded. I knew that mountain had eerie feeling and now, more than ever, I'm glad that I trusted my instincts. I just hope they can continue to keep me safe.
I keep moving, worried that any tributes near the mountain are now going to be headed my way. This is probably the safest part of the arena and, no doubt, the Gamemakers are fed up with my lack of interaction with the other tributes. Poor them.
I'm moving at a quicker pace than I usually would, desperate to put some space between me and whoever is coming way, but I soon run in to some hedges that I can't see over the top of. They're cut in to a weird maze that I can't get out of so I have to go back on myself and in to the woods, wasting time that I don't have.
Knowing what has happened earlier in the day, I should be more prepared when I'm faced with three Career tributes and their evil stares.
"Hello, twelve," says a tall, muscular boy from 1. He's gripping a knife that is very similar to the one that I'm trying to figure out where to place in his body.
"Hello," I say. He could just get on with it and plunge his knife in to my chest but Careers know that the Capitol want a show and they're more than eager to give it to them. I can't remember exactly where the other two are from but it's clear from their toned bodies and blood thirsty expressions that they're Careers. I wonder if they lost any of their alliance in the volcano explosion. I certainly hope so.
One of them runs at me with his ax but I manage to duck just in time and, somehow, push my knife in to his abdomen. He stumbles to the ground with blood pouring out of his body at a rapid rate. Before I have a chance to consider what it is I've just done, I've grabbed the two knives from my belt and thrown one at another Career coming towards me with his. It hits him in the chest and a cannon sounds seconds later. I turn around to face my third attacker and he punches me so hard in the stomach that I release my other knife.
I suppose it was always going to end this way. Most tributes from twelve are killed by a Career, why should I be any different?
"Are you ready to die?" He asks but there is no need for me to reply because his face contorts and he falls to the floor, dead, with a dart sticking out of his back.
I look behind him to see who his killer is and I'm stunned to see Maysilee standing over his body with a blowgun in her hand.
"We'd live longer with two of us," she says.
"Guess you just proved that," I rub my neck as I consider what to say next. I knew she would be a strong player but I didn't think she felt the same way about me. If I'm going to even remotely trust someone in this arena, I think it's going to be Maysilee. "Allies?"
She nods and walks towards me as I remove my knives from the dead Careers.
"How many have you killed?" She asks.
"Just these two, I've been hiding out here the entire time. You?"
"He's my third," she says, avoiding my gaze.
"It was you or them," I say, not sure how reassuring my words are. I used to think that I was quite good at comforting people but that was only with minor problems compared to the horror of the Hunger Games. "How did you kill this guy with a blowgun?"
"I've dipped the darts in poison. It was all I could get my hands on at the cornucopia so I just had to improvise."
"Impressive."
I suggest that we start moving, careful to avoid mentioning the edge of the arena in case she thinks I'm mental, just in case more tributes are heading our way and in no time at all we're heading further in to the woods. I've been walking through them for days and there seems to be no end, the arena really must be the Gamemakers pride and joy if it's as large as I think it is.
"So did you ditch Dinium?" I finally ask, I've been itching to find out why I didn't see Maysilee in Dinium's alliance the other day.
"No, I never allied with him. If I'm honest, I didn't want an allies in case I'd have to protect them over myself but…well…a few days in here changes your perspective."
"I get that, I had similar reasons for going it alone."
She nods, knowingly. "How are you feeling? I mean, after your first kill."
The honest answer is that I feel nothing, I don't think I've had enough time to fully comprehend what just took place and the two teenagers that I sent to their death. They were going to kill me and if I didn't stop them then I would have been one of the corpses being collected by the hovercraft. It will probably happen before the Games are over but in that moment, I couldn't let myself die at their hands.
We don't talk a great deal as we walk, clearly each of us are trying to figure out if the other has a game plan and if that involves killing the other one off any time soon. However, we both know that killing your district mate in the Games is something you will always be shunned for, even if you don't return home. Of course, this rarely happens as 12 is almost always killed off in the bloodbath and I doubt we'll be in the position where we have to kill the other one to win.
"You sleep first, you look shattered," Maysilee says once we agree to stop for the night. She isn't wrong, my whole body is full of fatigue and simply walking is becoming increasingly difficult.
"Thanks," I say, "but I want to wait for the anthem, you carry on if you're tired."
I wonder if our amiable alliance is getting much screen time, I imagine so considering we just bumped off three Careers between us.
"No, I'll stay up," she says.
We both get in to our sleeping bags and wait for the anthem but I can feel myself falling asleep. I damn myself as the anthem wakes me up, reminding myself that I cannot afford to get comfortable in these Games, even around Maysilee.
We both look up at the sky to see that of the Careers only the girl from 1 and a boy from 4 remain, which is unheard of this early on in the games. Twelve other tributes died today, undoubtedly in the volcano eruption and as the last face appears in the sky, Maysilee grabs my hand the same way that Tilly does when she's scared or upset.
"Dinium," she whispers. We both remain silent until the anthem ends its reprisal.
"I thought he might be able to do it, you know," I say.
"Me, too. I guess one of us will have to win for him."
I nod and let go of her hand. I may be happy to be her ally but Maysilee has just reminded us both, and the audience at home, that no matter how much we respect each other there can only be one winner. This alliance cannot last forever.