Chapter 11.
The snow is still as thick and slippery as it was at the bloodbath. We have hard time trying to get away from the mutts. At some parts the layer of snow is so thick that it almost reaches up to our knees. But the mutts are right behind us, so we have no other option than to keep moving. We zigzag through the mountains, making our way to the snowy plains because it will be easier to run there. I hear Nerida cry out as one of the icebears rakes its claws across her shoulder. Zircon wields his sword and cuts off its paw. The bear roars in agony and lowers his pace. Unfortunately for us, the rest of the crew keeps chasing us. While running, Elza has opened her backpack and is digging into it with her hand.
"What are you doing?" I ask her.
"The fish!" She says. She retrieves one from the bag and chucks it in the direction of the icebears. Two of them have seen it and interrupt their hunt on us to dive after the fish.
"You're a genius!" I yell. The rest of the bears are still following us. Elza throws out a few more fish and it appears that her tactic is working: the icebears are no longer following us, but fighting one another in order to get to the fish that Elza has thrown out.
Now that the icebears are distracted, we take our chance and run to the other side of the mountain. When we are sure that the icebears are out of sight and out of hearing distance, we lower to a walking pace. Soon we leave the mountains behind us. In front of us are now the snowy
plains, illuminated in oranges and pinks by the breaking dawn. In the middle of the plains are the remains of the cornucopia. On the other side of the plains, far in the distance, we can see the snowy tree tops.
"Are we going to the forest?" Zircon asks, although the tone of his voice reveals that it's not so much a question, but more of a direction he wants to lead us in.
When we're halfway through the plains we come across the cornucopia and decide to take a break. It's the first time I've seen the cornucopia after the bloodbath. The bodies have all been picked up, as expected, but the snow is still stained red from their blood. The place looks abandoned now: the cornucopia has been completely stripped from all the wood it was made of, and the inside has been completely cleared out.
In a moment of silence, we all hear the sound: the shuffling of feet from inside of the cornucopia. Zircon is the first to respond and immediately jumps inside. I follow him, with Elza in my wake. In the deepest corner of the cornucopia, the tail, which is made completely of iron, she sits. The girl with the brown curls that fall down her back, who I recognize as the girl from 10. Her widened eyes lit up golden in the sunlight, but are soon overshadowed by Zircon's figure.
"Were you trying to hide from us?" Zircon asks mockingly. "How rude." He says, as he pokes the girl in her cheek with his sword.
"Don't play with your prey." Elza reprimands him. "Otherwise I'd be glad to finish her quickly."
"Don't you worry." Zircon bites back.
"No!" the girl exclaims. "Please, I could join you."
"Oh, she actually knows how to speak." Zircon says. Swiftly, he draws a cut along her cheek with the tip of his sword. The girl whimpers in pain.
"Zircon…" Elza starts.
"Wouldn't it be nice to deliver the audience a good show, Elza?" Zircon says.
Elza shakes her head and steps forward with her polearm lifted.
Zircon sighs. "Fine." In one swift move, he lifts his sword and slits her throat. Zircon wipes the blood of his sword in the snow and turns to us as the boom of the cannon sounds in the distance.
"Let's go." He says sternly.
"Wait." Nerida says. She walks up to the girl's body and stares at it for a moment. I can tell the wound on her shoulder, from where the bear scratched her, still hurts. Nonetheless, she bends down and zips up the girl's jacket. She looks into her pockets, but finds them all empty. The girl must have come here in the hope to find any kind of supply, as she seemed to be completely empty handed. Nerida then walks back to us, shaking her head.
"You are way too sentimental." Zircon comments, then he walks away from the cornucopia, making his way to the tree line. The rest of us follow him, knowing it's our best option now.
It appears the odds aren't in our favor today. As we are getting closer to the forest, snow starts falling. There are only a few flakes at first, but it gets whiter and whiter around us as we near the forest. I notice that we've started walking faster. Zircon must be in a hurry to reach the forest, which is about the first smart decision I've seen him make in the last few days. The forest may easily hide a lot of tributes, but it will also provide us with a little shelter from the snowstorm, that has nearly turned into a blizzard. I hear the sound of Zircon's voice, but I can't make out what he's saying because of the strong winds. We've reached a close group of trees. Magnus and Elza start weaving branches together right away in order to create some kind of shelter. I watch Elza's crafty fingers shortly, then I take my position next to Irvin, who's already standing on guard. Zircon joins us as Nerida tries to help Elza and Magnus. She uses rope from her nets to tie the branches together. I leave Zircon and Irvin on guard and try to find out what's left of our supplies. We didn't take everything with us from the cave. We gained a lot of items in a short time span, and we wouldn't have been able to carry it all when we fled. I can't deny that I'm a little disappointed. I'll miss the comfort of having proper blankets. Now we'll have to sleep with our jackets on.
Our new makeshift hut is so tiny that the six of us don't even fit in it at the same time. Four of us fit inside, which leaves two of the us to stand guard. Magnus and Irvin offer to take the first shift. Zircon attempts to sleep while Nerida lays a last hand on securing the roof, and Elza and I decide to explore the area. I had a little bit of hope to find some more food somewhere, but everything we come across is either covered in snow or frozen solid. In the meanwhile, the snow doesn't stop falling. On the contrary, it appears to be snowing even harder.
"There might be a blizzard coming." Elza says eventually. "We should go back now, or it might be hard for us to find our way back."
Because of the lack of space and the snow that's everywhere, we are unable to start a fire in or near our hut. Elza's prediction turned out to be right: the snowfall has turned into a blizzard which leaves us all blinded and defenseless, and there is nothing we can do. At this moment I'm really grateful for the thermo suits, because they're all we have to keep ourselves warm. Zircon and Elza have gone outside to stand guard. Nerida, Irvin and I are huddled together in an attempt to keep each other warm. Magnus sits by himself at first, but he joins us eventually when he can't do anything but shiver anymore.
It's hard to tell what is happening in the area, as we aren't able to hear the sound of the cannon over the howling wind. I don't know how many hours have passed when Elza and Zircon come in and it's my turn to stand guard. Nerida and I stand outside for another while before I notice that the sky is clearing and the familiar Capitol anthem fills the arena. The sky shows us two faces today: The boy from 10, who must have been taken down by the icebear mutts. Next is his district partner, who we took down in the cornucopia. Then the sky turns black again, and the blizzard returns as suddenly as it had left.
Halfway through the night, Magnus and Irvin take over, allowing Nerida and me to get some sleep. By the time I wake up, nothing has changed; we still can't see anything past two feet. As we can't hunt or even see, there's nothing to do but to wait it out. I lose track of time and as the cold seeps into my body it becomes harder to move. After a long time, the silver sky turns dark again and we know that another day has passed. The blizzard isn't interrupted this time, so we assume that there are no fallen tributes today. The cold forms a strain on our bodies, but it can't contain our growing restlessness. Outside our hut, Irvin is fidgeting with his weapons and Magnus won't stop pacing around.
"I don't think this blizzard will last much longer," Elza remarks, "If there are no deaths today, the gamemakers will certainly want at least one tomorrow."
When Irvin and Magnus come back inside, Zircon and Elza are very eager to get to their feet.
Finally, after what seems like a few more hours, the blizzard seems to decrease into regular snowfall. Zircon, Elza, Irvin and I decide to go out to find food, as Magnus and Nerida stay near our temporary base.
The four of us tread deeper into the words, further away from the snowy plains and the cornucopia. We haven't explored these woods before, so we're all alert and have our weapons at the ready. But the trees around us are eerily quiet, and we don't walk into any other tributes.
The eerie silence is broken by a large thud, followed by an even eerier creaking. I turn around immediately, just to find that a large chunk of ice, bigger than my body, has made its way to the ground behind me. I look up to find out where it came from, just to see that another one is making its way down. I manage to jump aside just in time. The others saw it happening and break into a run. I follow them immediately. We chase through the trees as the giant icicles keep crashing into the ground. It doesn't stop until we reach a clearing in the forest with a lake in the middle. We look around for a moment, checking if the danger has really passed, then we head to the lake almost immediately. Irvin takes out a couple of fishnets and throws one of them in the lake, hoping for a catch. He's taken by surprise when the net is pulled into the water with a great force. He tries to grab hold of it, but it disappears into the water before his fingers reach the rope.
"What was th-"
I don't get the chance to finish my sentence before an unfamiliar weight slams into me, knocking me to the ground. For a second I think I've been hit by one of the falling icicles after all, but then I realize the weight on top of me is that of another person.
A lisping voice whispers into my ear: "Surprise, princess!" I recognize it as the voice from the boy from 8, Stitch. I remember him as the clumsy, skinny tribute who almost fell off of his pedestal on the first day. Despite his clumsiness then, he has no trouble pinning me down now. I feel powerless as I try to free myself from Stitch's grip. He looks at me with a false grin on his face.
"What should I do with you?" Then he gasps and his facial expression first turns into a surprised, then a pained one as he coughs blood in my face. I manage to push him aside and find that a sword is sticking out from his back. Zircon bends over to pull out his sword and nods to me. Then he disappears again. I wipe the blood from my face.
Stitch's lifeless body goes limp in front of me. I hear the boom of the cannon in the distance. I get to my feet and run towards the others, who are each fighting their own battle. It appears that we aren't the only ones who were lead to the lake. Elza is facing two tributes I both recognize as the tributes from 6: Trix and her male partner. I throw a knife in their direction which hits the boy in the arm and he cries out. Then I head towards Irvin, who's currently facing my blonde look-a-like from 3. I throw another knife in her direction which only barely misses her head. Then she turns around to face me.
Before I have any chance of doing anything I see the monstrous boy from 9. He comes out of nowhere, and I'm frozen on the spot when I see him run in our direction. Sophie and I are both taken by surprise as Aran cuts through Irvin's neck effortlessly. Blood sprays from the hole in his torso. As I reach down to pick up Irvin's trident, I feel someone pull my arm and I lift the trident, ready to defend myself. It's Elza, yelling at me to run. I look over my shoulder and see both Sophie and Aran running in my direction. I run in the other direction and follow Zircon and Elza back into the forest as the boom of the cannon sounds again. As soon as we're back in the forest, the icicles start falling down again. With the other tributes still chasing us, we have two threats to run from now. I hear a scream in the distance as the chunks of ice crash into the ground, but as both Zircon and Elza are still running in front of me, I know it can't be either one of them. Seconds later, I hear another boom of the cannon.
To make sure the other tributes don't follow us anymore, we take a different route back to our hideout. As they see us arrive, Nerida and Magnus jump to their feet immediately.
"We heard the cannons! Are you okay?" Nerida asks. I don't have the heart to tell her that one of the cannons announced the death of her district partner. For a few seconds, an uncomfortable silence hangs in the heavy air.
"Irvin…" Elza is the one breaking the silence, still panting. I hold up his trident, which is still stained with his blood. I see the colour drain from Nerida's face.