Chapter 6

The arena

She's running. Katniss has been running for what feels like hours, desperately trying to escape the male from eleven that apparently has it out for her. She had woken up to him trying to climb up the tree where she was sleeping. In an unexplained case of absurd luck, he had fallen down and been temporarily distracted which gave Katniss the opportunity she needed to jump down and run away. Only he had followed her. She always thought that her years of hunting had given her stamina, but apparently he had some as well.

The bushes scratch her cheeks as she runs, forcing her legs to carry her faster and faster. One wrong move and she's dead. Her bow and arrow are no good now. Not when he is right on her heel. In front of her she spots the electrified fence. This one separating her from a sector she has yet to enter. With no wear to run, and not spotting the entrance in the fence, she desperately seeks a place to hide. His footsteps echoes behind her, coming closer and closer. She turns left, and hides behind a thick tree trunk, knowing that this won't hide her week for long.

"I know you're here!" She hears the male from ten. He's not close brought yet. Maybe she could use her bow, she thinks. "You can't hide forever." He adds, his voice sounding closer. Katniss looks around frantically for anything. This can't be it, she thinks. She's brought back to when she was in the woods with the father and they were stuck up in a tree because of wild dogs. Her father had started to sing, and the mockingjay shade carried his song further and further away, somehow luring the dogs away from them. She knows it's a desperate attempt but she doesn't have many choices left.

"I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze

My footsteps on the ground

You'll see my face in every place

But you can't catch me now."

She is certain that he has heard her, but so has the birds. She was always told that she inherited her fathers voice. A voice that could make the woods quiet.

"I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere

But you can't catch me now

No, you can't catch me now."

The birds start mocking her song, and it carries all around her. It's a close resemblance to her own voice and it seems to distract her hunger because she hears him swear in frustration.

"Don't think you got away, Twelve! I will come for you." He shouts as he starts taking off in a direction opposite of her own. Katniss hands tighten around her bow. She could fire an arrow know, into his back and he would be none the wiser. It would be quick and she would be one step closer to coming home. Home to Prim. But something stops her. It wouldn't be right to fire at him when he is running away from her. She can't turn him into her prey. She just can't. It's not the same as hunting. She can't convince herself that it is

When she can no longer hear his footsteps, she lets out a deep breath. She thought she had been careful but this just shows that she had been arrogant. Sure, a majority of the tributes this year are young and weak, but there are contenders that can and do pose a threat to her. She curses herself for her own naïveté.

When Katniss seems the coast clear, she starts walking along the fence to see if she can find an opening. It would be good to but an electrified fence between her and her hunter. Soon enough she finds a hole big enough to crawl through without touching the deadly metal. She's careful not to let her bow get lost behind. One the other side the sector looks much of the same. She doesn't really know why there are fences inside the arena, but she suspects that the replica of her house isn't the only one in here.

The trees around here soon change. Gone are the pine trees and the big leaf trees. In its place are trees with no twigs, and only big leafs at the top. Impossible to climb and nothing that Katniss has seen before. She hears to voices and hurries behind a tree to hide. It's Billy and the girl from eight. They are running toward the blue water at the beach.

"Oh finally!" The girl shouts excitedly and starts drinking, only to realise that the water is salt. "It's salt water." She says disappointedly to Billy who looks equally distraught by the news. Katniss watch their interaction, her hands absentmindedly going to her own flask. She could give them some but it would do her chances of coming home no good.

"We can still swim though!" Billy says and Katniss is struck by his childish behaviour. A behaviour that has no place inside the arena.

"I don't know how." The girl says. Billy laughs.

"Neither do I but how hard can it be?" He asks before threading out into the water. Katniss wants to run and tell him to stop but she can't. She needs to do this alone. Just as she is about to leave, she hears the girl let out a deafening scream. Katniss frantically looks around only to see a big fish with enormous teeth attack the girl. Katniss looks around for Billy only to see him trying to crawl up to the beach but he is badly wounded. Suddenly Katniss doesn't care who sees her. She runs towards the beach.

"Billy!" She screams and he looks up at her. He's quickly slipping away from the blood loss. The girl is already gone, the the canon that sounds right as Katniss thinks this confirms it.

"Katniss, you came. I knew you'd come." Billy says weakly.

"I'm sorry Billy." Katniss says. She's sorry for not being able to save him. She's sorry for Billy having to die so she can win.

"I was never going to win. But you could. You have to." He rasps out. Katniss nods.

"Of course." There have been several moments where Katniss has forced herself not to cry, but when Billy slips away in her arms, she can't help herself. She cries and she doesn't care who sees her. She remembers the scared boy on the train with her. The one who didn't want to die, but did. The boy who had to die so she can go home.

As the two canons sound, marking their deaths with no uncertainty, Katniss looks out over the sea with an emotionless, yet tear filled gaze. She sees the gigantic fish, unlike anything she's seen before. Mutts most likely.

After a while, having done nothing but sit at the beach by the two bodies, she gets up and leaves.

"I'm sorry." She says quietly once more before takes off into another part of the, for her, unexplored arena.

The Capitol

Coriolanus is angry. Furious even. The only way anyone would be able to tell would be by looking into his eyes. His face remains a practiced mask of indifference.

"Who approved of the mockingjays?" He asks the game makers. No one looks at him.

"No one, sir." Clemensia says after a short while of complete silence. No one knows of his hate for the birds, but they do know of his need of control. Each game Coriolanus has led, has been meticulously organised. The birds were not on the list of approved animals in this years arena.

"How come then, that they are in there?" He asks no one in particular.

A nervous looking man, in charge of the borders of the arena speaks. "The force field only covers the borders of the arena. There is no roof since it would take too much power. So we can't control flying animals and insects, sir." Coriolanus lets out a deep breath but is otherwise composed. This is completely unacceptable. His arena with mockingjays inside? An insufferable insult. A wrong in nature. Not only were the birds undeniable evidence of the Capitols failure, but most of all it had enabled Katniss to make a show. He had made sure switch camera fast, but not fast enough to avoid some of her song to making it on air.

Coriolanus turns his gaze to Katniss on the screen in front of him. A habit as of late apparently. He stares her down as she runs away from the carnage by the beach.

Run little bird, run. There is no where to hide.