I'm dreaming again. Georgette is trying to wake me up. She's tapping her fingers on my face and neck.
I wake up. I open my eyes in the darkness of my hiding spot. I try to move and something is wrong. My legs are fixed in place. Something is wrapped around me, like threads or scraps of fabric sewn together or cobwebs. Those don't feel like fingers on my face. It feels like there is a giant insect walking on me. Wait. I think I'm wrapped in webbing.
IT'S A GIANT SPIDER WALKING ALL OVER MY FACE!
Stay calm, I tell myself. Don't startle the spider.
What can I move? I strain against the cobwebs and I can move my left arm. The webbing is sticky but flexible. I work on slowly pulling my hand free. Before the spider finishes the job.
Now I've angered the spider. It makes a clicking sound and jumps onto my left forearm. I try kicking my legs and my right foot moves forward, but doesn't break free. I try to shimmy down but I can't move that much. I'm stuck.
I reach for the knife on my left hip, but it's covered in particularly tough webbing. I can't release it from the holder. My left hand twists around, feeling for my backpack.
"If I am the victor," I say through gritted teeth, "I would like a word with the Gamemakers!"
My left hand finds the backpack. I poke around and feel the softness of a shirt.
Think, I tell myself, think!
My left foot is numb, I feel some pins and needles. I have a throwing knife on each hip, but I can't use them. When I packed the backpack, the sword was in the back. I put the folding knife in the front pockets.
I try twisting my fingers to the front pockets, gotta get that knife. I wiggle, shifting the backpack around. With an angry spider jumping all over me. Please do not let it have babies.
My fingers encounter some hard object. I continue trying to get my fingers high enough to reach in and pull out the-
The door opens and I blink with the flood of daylight. Two of the Careers are standing in front of me, grinning. A stocky boy, and a pretty girl not from 4. Is she from 1 or 2? Who cares?
"What do we have here?" She smirks.
"A predicament," I reply.
The girl turns to the boy and points at me. "Do you want to kill her? I got the last one."
He moves closer to me, bending down and placing his hands on his knees. "How are you still alive? You don't look that tough."
"Tough enough to kill other Tributes," I mutter. "Want to be next?"
"Aw, she thinks she's going to take us out,' the girl mocks. "Good luck with that, in your 'predicament'."
"I don't know what I want to do," the boy says, moving his face close to mine. "Do I kill you where you are or do I cut you free, just to make it more fun?"
"You can't handle me," I say, as my hand finds a cylinder through the fabric of the pocket. Is it a water bottle? I can't drown them.
He steps back and I see steel flashing and something stings. I flinch. He's cut my left cheek, my shoulder, my upper arm is exposed, and the webbing is sticking to his knife. I can see my blood on the threads.
My left hand grabs the cylinder and I pull the zapper out. My thumb finds the button as I thrust it as his face, aiming for an eye. He jumps back with a shriek after I zap him, and he falls down, grabbing his right eye.
I move the zapper to the webbing. It burns through quickly and the threads disappear. I thought that I might be set on fire, but I wasn't. Let's not think about me willing to burn myself to be free. This is no ordinary webbing. My right hand finds a knife, which I throw at the girl. It brushes against a thigh as she leaps away. The boy is curled in a fetal position, moaning.
I wish I could say I gracefully leap to my feet but my left foot is aching with pins and needles and I can't feel the floor. I clumsily end up on my knees, shoving the zapper towards the boy and snarling. He climbs to his feet and runs away. I grab my left knife as the girl is pulling out a bow and then an arrow. I raise the knife and pause when I see banana yellow flesh moving towards her.
The snake knocks her down and starts to wrap itself around her. She makes odd sounds, her arms immobilized. The snake is crushing her lungs.
I try to ignore the sound of her ribs breaking, as I snatch up my belongings. She looks at me, terrified. I avert my eyes and spot a bag. I grab it and then hobble away, sensation slowly returning to my left foot.
I touch the cut on my face, it feels superficial. I look at my shoulder. That cut is not bad. But the one on my forearm is more serious. I slowly walk around, waiting for the proper blood flow to return to my left foot.
The cannon sounds. I think about the waste of another life. Then I get practical. I open her bag and I see two tins and a box of crackers and some fruit. Quickly I transfer all of her food to my backpack. I find a can opener and take that too. I pull on a long sleeved shirt, since mine was cut open. I experimentally move my left shoulder. The cut stings.
Slowly I walk to the interior. Levels 1 to 3 are now fully underwater. Level 4 will flood tomorrow.
I climb down to level 10, because it has more ground. I go as deep as I can, to the outer wall. I sit down to eat some crackers, courtesy of the girl. The bruising from yesterday and the cut on my cheek makes eating uncomfortable. I'm going to die of infection, I just know it.
A drone flies in. I open the package and find bandages and curved needles and black thread. Plus a very small pot of medicine. I blink in confusion. Curved needles are used to sew toys and stuffed animals, or where straight needles can't reach.
I look at the thread. It's not a crafting thread. "It's to stitch my arm up~" I look up. "Thank you so much, sponsors."
I pull off my shirt and wash my hands, then get to work. If I prop up the sword just so, I can see part of my face reflected on it. The cut is ugly but just needs two small butterfly bandages. The shoulder also needs some bandages. After I'm done, I dab some of the ointment into it. It goes numb fairly quickly.
I put some ointment on the cut on my forearm, then grit my teeth. I stitch it closed. It's a terrible job, but I'm doing it one-handed and the ointment doesn't take away all of the pain.
That night, when her face is projected on the ceiling, I learn the snake killed the girl from District 1.