Chapter Twenty: RED
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventieth Hunger Games Begin!"
The light from the artificial sun was so bright that Maize was blinded for a moment. There was a strong breeze kissing her cheeks carrying the smell of pine, dirt and water with it. She had sixty seconds before the gong would go off and the tributes would be allowed to run. Maize quickly looked left and right, trying to catch a glimpse of Cana. Brown fearful eyes locked onto her hers. Cana! The younger teen subtly lifted three fingers to her, Maize smiled before giving him a thumbs up and looking at his version of three o'clock. That was the area he would be running off in.
Thirty seconds to go.
Maize gazed at the prizes lying in and around the giant golden Cornucopia. She ignored the obvious items, containers filled with food, water, medicine and more, and instead looked at the items strewn across the lawn. There were a couple of backpacks that Maize could grab on her way towards meeting Cana, she ignored the obvious trap left to her by the Game Makers in the center of the Cornucopia. She was not getting caught up in the bloodbath and killed by the Career Pack just for a bō staff. No. Maize would make her own.
Ten seconds.
She stretched her limbs before getting into a runners pose. Her destination in the back of her mind as she readied herself for the gong.
The sound of cannon fires above her, but Maize doesn't pay it any attention as she sprints to the first pack, barely even stopping as she snagged it with her right hand and pulled it onto her back before reaching down once more to grab the next one. Screams have already begun to fill the air. She does the only thing she can do in this moment. Ignore it. Cana's back had already disappeared into the foliage and so would she.
A body crashed into her's causing the both of them to tumble onto the ground from the momentum, she pressed her knee up into the other's groin before striking up into the neck of the District 6 boy's tribute and clapping her palms over the teen's ears in an attempt to disorient him. The fifteen-year-old groaned as he stumbled off her, Maize shimmied backward grabbing the pack she'd dropped before kicking the teen in the nose causing red blood to spurt from his nostrils. She quickly took off into a run once more, only pausing to look back once she had cover in the foliage. While the teen had been attending to his nose, the District 1 female had come up behind him and slit his throat. Maize put the teen's death out of her mind for now, she had a District partner to find and protect.
She ran once more for another three minutes in the direction that Cana had signaled her to go in before catching her breath to look at the ground and surroundings around her to pick up his track. The screams from the Cornucopia could no longer be heard, and Maize was internally grateful for the reprieve. There! Maize crouched to look at the boot-shaped mark in the ground, she followed the trail until it came to a stop in front of a tree. She let out a low inquisitive whistle that everyone from 11 knew meant 'are you there?' Maize only had to wait a brief second for the 'I'm here!' response. A relieved smile tugged onto the corners of her lips before she began to expertly climb up. More than halfway up the tree, perched on a thick sturdy branch hidden by the leaves of the tree sat Cana, he was hugging the thick trunk in front of him.
Maize joined him by pulling herself up on the branch closest to him, "Hey." she whispered, "You okay."
The younger teen was pressing his forehead into the bark of the tree, his eyes shut as a small tremor worked throughout his body, "No." he croaked back in a quiet voice before adding. "I'm glad you're not dead."
"Me too." Maize bit her bottom lip in concern, not knowing how to help her terrified District partner before deciding that getting busy would be more productive of their time and might even help Cana keep his mind off the blood bath occurring at the Cornucopia.
She had clipped the second pack she'd grabbed onto the first one before beginning the climb up the tree, now unclipping it she pulled it in front of her to inspect its content. A thin blanket that reflects body heat laid on the top hiding what looked like coiled up rope, underneath it was a pack of jerky and crackers, matches, a bottle of iodine, and an empty flask for water. The side pocket of the pack had a nicely hidden set of throwing knives that she knew between the two of them would be put to good use. She carefully pulled the rope out before handing it to Cana. Maize wasn't sure when the teen had snapped out of his panicked state, but she was glad to have curious and determined brown eyes locking with hers once more.
"Tie yourself to the tree, we'll be here for a while." she murmured. Cana simply nodded, doing as she instructed before gesturing to the pack in her arms. Maize handed it to him wordlessly, before shrugging off the other pack from her back to rift through its content. There was more climbing gear in the pack, so she immediately used it to tie herself onto the tree before turning to the pack once more. There was another empty flask for water some dried fruits and an assortment of nuts, a thermal blanket, some fingerless gloves, a small sewing kit, and water purifying tablets, and a large knife that Maize was going to use to carve herself a bō staff.
Overall, Maize was rather pleased with their haul. They would stay up in the tree for another hour or so before venturing down in search of water, after all, it was the only thing that hadn't been provided and that they couldn't live without.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The cannon fire was loud and deafening above them. Each one signaling the death of a tribute. They usually went off immediately when a tribute fell, the only time it didn't was during the blood bath because the body count was so high and often confusing. Maize counted thirteen cannon shots. Thirteen teenagers dead at the hands of one another. That meant that there were eleven more tributes still living.
A terrified scream filled the air before it was cut short.
Words: 1,127
Edited: January 14, 2020