Chapter 10: The Great Escape
I wake up, hoping that this is all a dream. Hoping that I was still back at the cozy house with my mom, Katniss, and the rest of the family. But reality hit me hard like a slap in the face when I realized I was still in the arena being held captive by the careers. I had to get out of here somehow. Cato is probably going to kill me soon. I attempted to break free from the ropes that tied me down, but they wouldn't budge.
Glimmer is standing over me, flipping her knife in circles as she studies me. "Don't even think about it." She said.
"Think about what?" I asked, trying to sound dumb.
"You know what I mean, idiot. Trying to escape. Just know that I won't let you. Cato gave me clear orders to keep an eye on you. You are stuck with us." Glimmer said with a smirk.
"I wasn't trying to escape," I argued.
Glimmer only smiles. "You won't have gotten far anyway. It won't be long before we kill you." Glimmer said.
"No one will be killing anyone." Goosebumps creep up my arms. I know that voice anywhere. I saw Cato walking up to us with his arms crossed. He had an angry look on his face that sent shivers down my spine. "Is that clear?"
"Yes, Cato." Glimmer said. Cato kneels down to my level. He grips my chin and examines me which makes me really uncomfortable.
"I think I'll keep you around for a while. Have some fun with you for a bit before I kill you." Cato said. He kept his grip on my chin tight.
"Please, Cato. I'll do anything for you to spare my life." I pleaded.
"Spare your life, huh?" Cato said. I nodded.
"Well then. How about we make a deal." Cato said.
"A deal?" I said with curiosity.
"Yes. When I win and you're the only one left, I will have you as my prize. You will marry me." Cato said. My eyes widened. Did I hear him right? Is he seriously proposing to me?
"But I'm already married!" I cried.
"That doesn't matter. Either marry me or die." Cato said. I just sighed. I guess I have no choice.
"Margo, Yang, Salem, Miguel... Forgive me..." I muttered under my breath.
"What was that?!" Cato shouted. I flinched when he yelled at me. Cato's voice is loud, and it scares me.
"Nothing! I'll marry you." I said. Cato smiled.
"Good! You will stay by my side for the rest of the games." Cato said. Cato grabbed his sword and cut the ropes. Once I was untied I went over to Peeta and hugged him.
"I can't believe this is happening..." I whispered. Peeta stroked my hair gently.
"I won't let him hurt you," Peeta said.
"Thanks, Dad," I said.
"Alright everyone, let's move out!" Cato said. We followed Cato's orders, following close behind him. We spent the rest of the day Katniss hunting.
Katniss's POV:
I woke up when I heard a low rumbling noise. I thought I smelled smoke. When I turned my head around, I saw a huge wall of smoke and fire headed my way. My first impulse was to scramble down but I remembered I was buckled into the tree. I frantically untied the knot from the ropes holding me in place. There is no time to pack the rest of my stuff. Thankfully my water was in the bag.
I jumped down from the tree, making a hard landing on my feet. I began sprinting away from the fire that was chasing me. The world quickly transformed to flame and smoke. Burning branches crack from the trees and fall in showers of sparks near my feet. I nearly dodged a fireball headed my way. I got back up and continued running. I had to get out of here before the flames got me.
I dodged another fireball. The heat is horrible, but the smoke is worse than the heat. The smoke filled my lungs as I ran. I did my best to hold my breath. A tree almost crushes me. I turned the other way around to make my escape. The fire continued to chase me.
One of the fireballs hit my leg, causing me to fall to the ground. My leg was burning with pain. When another fireball was coming towards me, I ducked and rolled down the hill to escape. When I got to the bottom of the hill I got back up and ran as fast as I could but with an injured leg, it wasn't easy to do so. I pushed past the tall grass that was passing my way.
I spotted a lake close by. I jumped into the lake to keep myself safe from the fire. But I wasn't safe for long when I saw the careers running after me.
Lana's POV:
We had finally found Katniss after a long day of searching. Katniss was hiding in the middle of the lake. I didn't want to chase her, but I had no choice. Cato made it clear that if I tried to escape again, I was dead.
The careers were whooping with cheers. "There she is! There she is!" Marvel shouted, pointing in her direction. Katniss got up and ran from the lake when they spotted her.
"She's mine!" Glimmer shouted.
"Not if I get her first!" Cato said. "Where are you gonna go?"
"Mine!" Glimmer shouted. Keeping up with the careers while we were chasing Katniss was hard because they're pretty fast. Luckily, I can fly so when my legs tire out, I fly next to them.
"Fish out of the pond! And someone found her!" Marvel shouted.
"There she is!" Glimmer shouted.
"Yeah!" Marvel cheered.
"Here we go!" Cato shouted happily. Glimmer looked to my left and noticed me flying.
"Hey Lana, how are you flying?" Glimmer asked.
"None of your business!" I shouted. Cato shot me a glare before we continued running after my mom. I wanted to tell her to run away but I would be in big trouble if I did. Cato would have my head. The careers are scary, no doubt about that.
"Where are you going, huh?" Cato said when we had Katniss cornered by a tree.
"Get her, Cato!" Glimmer shouted.
"No! Leave her alone!" I cried.
"Shut your mouth, or I'll do it for you." Clove threatened. So I stayed silent, not wanting to get hurt. Katniss begins to climb the tree that she was cornered in. That's it Mom, get away from here! I thought.
"Where do you think you're going?" Cato said.
"Where you going, baby!" Marvel said.
"Three O clock," Clove said.
"Where are you going, girl on fire?" Cato said.
"We got her!" Glimmer cheered.
"Miss. Everdeen I'm gonna get you!" Clove sang. Katniss ignored them and continued to climb the tree.
"That's not gonna help you up there, Katniss!" Glimmer said.
"Where are you going?" Clove said.
"Go get her, man!" Marvel shouted. Cato begins to climb up the tree after her. I wanted to help Katniss but all I could do was watch. I know Cato wouldn't let me near her.
"You are so done!" Clove said.
"Just get her, Cato!" Marvel said impatiently.
"He's gonna get you, Katniss!" Glimmer sang.
"Look at her scurry," Marvel said.
"Right up there," Clove said. The two kept climbing higher and higher. Watching those two was like watching a game of cat and mouse. Cato was the cat and Katniss was the mouse.
"Kill her!" Glimmer shouted.
"Just go, keep going!" Marvel shouted.
"Go, Cato," Clove said.
"Come on, Cato." Glimmer said. The careers kept yelling at Cato to get her as he was climbing up the tree after Katniss. Cato was getting closer and closer to Katniss. This was not good.
"I'm coming for you!" Cato said when he was inches from her.
"Come on, Cato!" Clove shouted. I couldn't help but laugh when Cato gripped a loose branch from the tree, causing him to fall. Cato landed hard on his back. Cato shot me another glare when he saw me laughing. I shut my mouth again. The careers are getting impatient now.
"I'll do it myself." Glimmer said as she grabbed her bow and arrow. Glimmer aimed her arrow at Katniss and shot it but missed because Katniss ducked her head just in time.
"Give me that before..." Cato said, snatching the bow and arrow from Glimmer's hands. He aimed the arrow at Katniss.
"Get her." Glimmer said impatiently.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Marvel shouted. Cato shot the arrow at Katniss. The arrow missed Katniss because she kept her head ducked down.
"Maybe you should throw the sword!" Katniss said mockingly. Peeta spoke up as the careers were thinking about what to do next.
"Let's just wait her out," Peeta suggested, walking over to us. "She's gotta come down at some point. It's either that or starve to death."
"Dad?" I said, confused.
"Trust me on this one," Peeta whispered into my ear.
"Okay," I said.
"We'll just kill her then," Peeta said to Cato. Cato agreed with his plan.
"Okay." He said, nodding. "Somebody make a fire," Cato said, pushing past us. Katniss was still up in the tree. She and Peeta locked eyes for a few seconds before Peeta and I made our way back to the careers. I held onto Peeta's hand tightly.
"Let's make camp over here!" Glimmer called.
"Hurry up with the fire," Marvel said impatiently. When Cato returned, he pried me away from Peeta. I tried to protest but he threatened to punish me. Cato grabbed some rope from the backpack and tied me to the tree again. My mind still thought about the proposal Cato gave to me. I wondered why he wanted to marry me out of all people. I hoped my spouses would forgive me for this and understand why I had to do it.
Peeta fed me dinner before he went to bed. I watched the careers giggling and goofing off.
"Boys." Glimmer said with a smirk. I looked up at the night sky screen, expecting the portraits of people who died to appear but there was nothing. No deaths today. I was tired, so I closed my eyes, allowing myself to rest. I must have been more exhausted than I realized so within a few minutes, I fell into a deep sleep.
I woke up the next morning before everyone else did. Peeta was still asleep. I looked up the tree where Katniss was to see that she was awake too.
"Mom," I whispered quietly, trying to get her attention. She looked at me, but she didn't know what to do because she was stuck up there.
"Psst. Psst." I heard a small voice say. I turned around behind me to see young Rue hiding behind the tree.
"Rue?" I whispered. Rue walked over to me quietly. She grabbed Clove's knife and untied the ropes that were holding me down. I nodded as a silent way of saying thank you when I got free. I didn't want to talk too much because that would draw attention to me. Rue then pointed to Katniss's direction where a beehive was dangling just inches above her.
Rue made motions with her hands to tell her to cut down the beehive. Katniss nodded, letting her know she got the message. Katniss climbed higher up the tree where the beehive was. Katniss grabbed her knife and then began cutting the tree branch that the beehive was on.
I saw my weapons lying next to Cato. I quickly grabbed my sword, shield, lasso, and web shooters. I managed to grab one of their backpacks of supplies too.
I wanted to help Katniss. Now that I was able to, I flew over to her. I grabbed my sword from behind my back. I begin cutting the tree with her. It wasn't easy because the bees were stinging me, and it hurt like hell. I tried shooing the bees away from me, but they wouldn't budge.
"Mom, what the hell are these things?" I gasped in between breaths. The bees made it hard to breathe too.
"Trackerjackers I think." Katniss said. Trackerjackers. I think I've heard about it during training before. Trackerjackers can cause some powerful hallucinations and in some extreme cases, death. The bees kept stinging me endlessly, so did Katniss. We kept trying to shoo them away as we continued cutting down the branch.
When we finally were able to cut down the branch, the nest landed on the ground, causing the careers to wake up and scream. The tracker jackers buzzed furiously as they were stinging the careers. Glimmer's scream was the loudest of them all. Everyone was able to escape except for Glimmer. Glimmer tried to get the bees away from her but they kept stinning her.
I nervously climbed down the tree with Katniss. Katniss lost her grip. She fell bumping into me, causing me to fall down with her. We made a hard landing on the ground. I got up and tried my best to walk, holding onto Katniss tightly. It was hard to see where I was going because my vision was blurry. I felt my body going limp.
We took a few seconds to rest on a nearby tree. Glimmer was dead. Her bow and arrows lying next to her body caught Katniss's attention. Katniss walked over to where Glimmer was. I watched her pry the bow and arrows from her hands. When she retrieved them, Katniss started counting how many arrows there were. I was about to pass out when I heard a voice yelling at us.
"Run! Run!" It was Peeta!
"Katniss! Lana! Go! Get out of here! What are you guys doing?! Go!" Peeta yelled. Katniss grabbed my hand and started running again. It was hard to keep walking in a straight line. The world shook around me. I thought I saw Ceaser Flickermen walking into the arena.
"Not only is it lethal, but the venom of a tracker jacker sting can produce powerful hallucinations," Ceaser said.
My body couldn't take it anymore. Within seconds, I blacked out.
A/N: Hello readers!
Welcome to chapter 10 of my Hunger Games fanfiction! I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as Lana continues her journey in the world of Panem with Katniss and Peeta. I am really looking forward to the future of this story and where it will take us. That being said, I'm planning on posting a couple of chapters for my Harry Potter fanfiction before I continue this story because I'm almost finished with year 5. I'm almost finished with the first movie of this series too so it won't be long till we are on the second movie.
Again I do hope you all enjoy reading this chapter and please leave your thoughts in the reviews. Be nice though please, thank you and have a good day.
- Rosebuds722