On the morning of Day 4, we did go hunting. Partly to find the remaining tributes. And partly to find Jewel. She was still out there somewhere. We searched a huge portion of the forest surrounding the rocky desert. Our supplies were starting to dwindle. That night we went to sleep without any success in finding tributes. The anthem played but there were no faces in the sky. "Arrghh!" Art moaned as he sat down next to our camp fire. "Jewel's probably starving to death and those other tributes are still alive! Who's left Fred?" Art ranted. The kid from 4 counted it out on his fingers then whimpered, "There are four others not including Jewel..." The camp fell into silence. Casey began snoring and our conversation came to an end.
Day 5 was a nightmare. Art barked at us and dragged us through the forest like some kind of drill sergeant. Half of the day I spent anxiously thinking about Tammy's note, and the people I had killed. 1 more day. Today. Then, tomorrow, I was supposed to abandon the Careers and find Pete and Greg. As we trekked across the brown leaves and green trees, guilt filled my stomach. Belle, Xavier, Heather...and Melissa. All of their frightened faces flashed through my head and I nearly threw up. The screams of Heather. The shrill howl of Katie. Then Katie's pale face and Ray's burnt and scarred body came to mind. I shivered. It scared me to think that they were dead. Gone. I shivered again. Blood curdling screams sliced my thoughts into confusion.
They were everywhere. Screams of terror. They were echoing off the trees and birds flew wildly in fright. My whole group looked around shocked. Fred yelled, "Make it stop!" But I could barely hear him over the sound of glass breaking, raw, alien, animalistic screams. Casey fell to the ground clutching her ears. They were bleeding. The screams didn't stop. In fact they got louder and louder. Art fell to the ground in pain. Casey started screaming as well. That made it so much worse. Fred started shouting at random, crying. I ran in circles not sure what to do. It was horrible. The screams...they challenged my sanity.
It was like my very soul was being pierced. My brain corrupted. All I could think about was the sound of the screams. Had it been 10 minutes now? Or an hour? Time passed as I now lay on the ground by the Careers staring into the sky. The screams kept coming. There was now a chorus of three. One was the original. I slowly turned my head to see Casey screaming, red-faced. But no one else was. Who was the third voice? My mind was forced into reality as I jumped up. I ignored the screams to the best of my ability. Then I searched the bushes and nearby trees for the third scream. I felt myself getting closer. Then there she was. Jewel.
Laying on the ground screaming insanely. She was foaming at the mouth! Her body was thin and bony from hunger. She looked parched as she clutched a knife in her shaking hand. Jewel's eyes darted to me, then back up at the blue sky. It wasn't real. There was no way it was. I stumbled back a few steps. The screams were driving me nuts. I wanted to rip my hair out and pitch myself into an abyss. Then something took over me. Something terrible.
Rage. I wanted so badly to end the screaming. I took out my sword wickedly and cackled. An evil, insane laugh that didn't sound like my own. Then I thrust my weapon downward and into Jewel's stomach. Her face contorted into a look of pain. Jewel's shrieks were cut off abruptly as I brought up my sword and down again. And again. I couldn't stop stabbing her. Suddenly I hated Jewel SO MUCH! I don't know why, my brain just told me what to do. I jumped on Jewel's bloodied body as a cannon fired and punched her bony face three times. I got up, kicked Jewel two more times and stormed away, my blade glistening red.
Sometime during my tantrum, the other two screams had stopped. My ears had never felt better. I limped back to Casey, Art, and Fred where I fell to my knees. Before I could cry, Art croaked, "How?" I dragged my body closer to him. "It was Jewel. She was screaming. And I killed her," I admitted wholeheartedly. Art nodded understandingly to my surprise. His face looked maniacal. "Yeah, I would have done it too. Casey's lucky I didn't have the willpower to go over there and kill her," Art replied without amusement. I gave a fake laugh in return. Fred slowly sat up. Then Casey did as well. "I can't...do it..." Fred moaned. The rest of that day we half set up camp, half dragged about saying crazy things. Once I heard Art actually mutter, "Bacon." But the question still stood, "Who was the original screamer that day?" A Capitol trick, or an unseen tribute? Would we ever know?
Once I assigned myself for first watch, the anthem played. Jewel's was the only face that night. Then I remembered the Capitol. How they were watching. They wanted to see my reaction to Jewel's death. I smiled and stood up, then I looked up at the sky, moonlight shining on my face, and winked. After that, the sky went black and I sat back down. There was a reason I had chosen to have first watch. Through all the guilt, pain, and slight insanity, I still had to keep Tammy's order in mind. Tonight, when the Careers would least expect it, being the assigned night, I would kill them, and find my alliance.
As I sat in darkness holding a flashlight to watch for any intruders, I formed my plan of attack. I would get my HoverBoard ready. Then, I would murder as many Careers as I could, then I would hop on my shiny vehicle, and zoom into the desert, find Greg's cave, and reach safety. Then, and only then, would I have time to think about my problems. I slowly got up and turned on my HoverBoard. Luckily, the sound of the engines wasn't loud enough to wake the others. Then I unsheathed my sword. Things were about to get ugly.
First, I marched over to the sleeping body nearest to me. I couldn't tell who it was. I raised my sword and whispered, "I hate Careers." Then I slashed down at the person's neck. A cannon sounded and I hurried to the next figure. That was my mistake. Obviously this next person was awake! The cannon had awakened both of the others. Before I could run to my HoverBoard, someone jumped up to a standing position. "Skye? What's going on? Who?" Art blubbered. I just kept running to my HoverBoard. Then I realized that Casey was behind me. She tackled me to the ground. "What are you doing? Did you just KILL FRED?!" Casey spat at me. She was wrestling to get on top of me. I shoved my torso upward to throw Casey off of me. It worked. I scrambled to my feet and lurched for my Hover Board. Then I threw my body onto it and slipped my feet into the attached boots. Art was charging at me. "I WILL KILL YOU! SKYE LOCKSMITH, YOU ARE A TRAITOR!" Art boomed at me. I just smiled at him, waved, and spurred my HoverBoard into movement.
I zoomed past trees and through the forest. The Careers' shouts and catcalls were lost behind me. I felt around in my pocket while guiding my board. Bingo, it was still there. My compass. I looked at it and directed myself toward Pete and Greg's general location. Hopefully I would find them before somebody else did. The thought then occurred to me; I had killed Fred. He wasn't a bad guy. I should've been more careful when I was selecting who to kill that night. Suddenly, I found myself flying through the desert. I observed the land before me. A figure was in the distance next to a large boulder and some weeds. I couldn't make out who it was, but because they were alone I decided to head toward them. As I neared the tribute I could tell it was Greg. He stood with his hands on his hips, smirking. I arrived a few feet away from him and hopped off my HoverBoard.
"Like my new toy? Pretty useful," I chuckled as I transformed my board back into its cube form. Greg approached me and told me where the cave was. It was behind the large boulder, and surrounded by large bushes but there was a small hole beneath one of the shrubs. "You want me to go through that?" I scoffed. "Hey, your choice. If you want to stay out here, that's up to you," Greg replied smiling. I shook my head and slid under the dead bush. The prickly branches scraped me multiple times but I made it through. Greg was right behind me. There before me lay a small hole. The cave.
I got down onto my butt and shuffled down the sloped opening. I was greeted by a faint red glow. Then after sliding down about ten feet, my shoes hit the ground below. I could make out the area before me. A rectangular stone sat in the corner of the cave where a single candle sat, giving off the red light. Pete sat with his back against the back wall. The roomy cave was pretty nice. "Welcome back Skye. It's been a while huh?" Pete rose an eyebrow with a smile. Greg slid down behind me. There were backpacks and supplies laying against a wall. "Did you bring us any of the Careers' goodies?" Greg questioned. My face went red. I had forgotten to grab supplies. I face palmed and apologized. "Hey it's okay. We will have to go out to the forest though if we want food..." Pete explained to me.
I shook my head a little too vigorously. Maybe I was losing my marbles. "Not if I can show you the stash," I responded, a grin filling my face. Pete smiled back and Greg asked, "What's the stash?" I sat against the left wall and elaborated, "After the bloodbath and Day 1 was over, we needed somewhere to hide the remaining Cornucopia supplies, right? It was my idea actually. Have you guys noticed that the Cornucopia is sealed off?" They both nodded, listening intently. "So, we put the supplies inside the Cornucopia, sealed it off, then created a secret tunnel into the Cornucopia! And I know where it is!"
Greg and Pete cheered. "Perfect! We'll go tomorrow!" Pete finished. Then we went to sleep. There was no need to set up a watch because we were already camouflaged.
Morning came way too fast. When Greg woke me up, I was still feeling groggy and asleep. We packed up whatever food Pete and Greg had left in one backpack, then we walked out of our cave and through the bushes. Outside it was very hot. "Everyday out here it gets hotter," Pete said, squinting. I took out my compass and pointed in the direction of the Cornucopia. It was a small dot with a dark ring around it off in the distance. We set off at a quick walk. As we traveled, we exchanged stories, me explaining every kill and experience the Careers had. Apparently, the boy from 3, Nick, who was still alive, had once snuck into the cave and stolen half of Pete and Greg's food! But that was just about the most interesting thing that had happened to them thus far. Then I got to the part about the screams. I described it in amazing detail. Greg looked horrified at the story. Pete's eyebrows were furrowed and he looked like he was in deep thought. "I think I'm going insane. Pete...I don't know what to do..." I trailed. The huge kid from 11 glanced at me and smiled. Then he ruffled my hair and shoved me playfully. "C'mon Skye, you're fine. Get over yourself," Pete encouraged. I wasn't so sure. Just as the sun began dipping below the horizon, I realized the truth.
"I'm changing."