A Crafted Kind of Games: A Hunger Games Fanfic

Chapter Twenty-Four

Morning sunlight streamed through the branches of the tree, and my eyes slowly opened.

For a second, I couldn't remember where I was.

Oh yeah. I thought. Hunger Games. I watched two kids die last night. Yay.

I had to be the next one to find Adam. If what that Bodil guy said was true, then he is seriously screwed.

Well, then again, I don't have much on me either... just a small knife and Tiffany's makeshift spear.

I feel a dull blow of pain when I look at the spear, but I push it away. I have to focus, there's not many of us left.

I recount everyone left in my head. It's been somewhere around a week, and 17 people have died. Geez, that has to be some sort of record.

There's a group of five Careers, which brings it up to 22, and...

Dear God. It's just me, Adam, and the Careers left.

We are so dead.

I drop to the ground, not needing to avoid any bodies, because the Bodil guy and Jordan are gone. I wonder how they got rid of them...

Scratch that. I don't want to know.

I walk through the woods, not bothering to try and sneak around. The Careers went back to their base, which is undoubtedly the Cornucopia, and the only other person out here is Adam, who wouldn't try to kill me.

I hope.

Almost as if on cue, an arrow whizzes past me, an inch from my face. The Careers must have gotten up early.

I turn in the direction of the arrow, my small knife in my hand, only to see Adam in a tree, looking kind of embarrassed.

"Sorry!" He says sheepishly. "Thought you were a Career."

"Adam?" I ask, and he grins.

"That would be me. Luckily, I think I need a little more practice with a bow."

"Yeah. Luckily." I return the smile.

"I heard a few cannons go off yesterday, but the trees kind of blocked the view. Thought you might have died."

"No. Had to watch 11 get shot and 12 get axed, though."

His eyes widen. "How'd you see it?"

"Let's just say the Careers need to get better at checking their surroundings, but I wasn't stupid enough to attack them single-handedly."

"I wouldn't peg you for someone that stupid." He jumps down from the tree, landing on his feet in the snow. "Come on, I found a pretty good spot for a base."

I freeze. "It isn't a cave, is it?"

I don't think I'd be able to stay in a cave after what happened to Tiffany.

Adam looks at me quizzically. "No...why?"

I stare at the ground. "Tiffany..."

His expression softens. "Oh...that happened in a cave?"

I nod. "The girl from Four did it. I kind of killed her for it..."

"That's the name of the game." Adam says. "Kill or be killed. I hate it."

"Where's your base?" I change the subject quickly, blinking away tears. I will not cry. Not here.

"Not far from here. Come on, Skylar." He says, the easy smile back on his face.

He runs off, and I follow him until we stop at a humongous tree covered in frozen ivy.

"Why are we-" I start to say, but he cuts me off.

"Check this out." He says, and pulls aside some of the ivy to reveal a hole in the trunk that leads to the hollowed out inside of the tree that's easily big enough for around four people.

He climbs inside, and the ivy falls back over the hole, completely concealing it. I wouldn't be able to tell the hole ws there if I didn't know where it was.

I pull aside the ivy and climb inside. Inside, Adam sits with his back against the wall, but there's still enough room for me and the few items in the back.

"How'd you find this place?" I ask, awed.

His smile disappears and his eyes divert to the floor.

"Hey..." I say quietly. "You okay?"

He shakes his head. "It wasn't me that found it...it was Jason."

"Oh...I'm sorry about that, by the way..."

"Don't be." He says quietly. "It's my fault he's gone."

"I hate to ask it, but what happened?"

He looks back up at me. "We were coming back here after getting some food supplies, and everything was fine. Great, really. We had been catching up with each other the whole week, and...it felt like I had my brother back. Like nothing could go wrong anymore.

"As we were walking, we were talking and joking around like we used to, and I just noticed a gray metal thing on the ground, but before I could say anything..."

He stopped for a second and buried his face in his hands. "Jason stepped on it, and it was a trap that set off an explosive. My own brother blew up right in front of me...and then the kid from 11 jumped from the tree just laughing his head off and I ran. I ran like a coward."

He looks up at me again, tears brimming in the corners of his eyes, and manages a very small, fake laugh. "Ironic, isn't it? My voice, the only thing everyone can count on to be loud, failed me at the most critical moment."

"Hey, that wasn't your fault." I say. "The fault is on the kid from 11."

"I could've stopped Jason. I could've fought the kid from 11."

"And gotten yourself killed?"

"I'd rather that then be a coward."

"You aren't a coward, Adam." I say. "You were doing what you could to survive. Surely there's someone back home who asked you to try and come back for them?"

He nods. "There is."

"Then tell me about them. Maybe that'll get your mind off of things." I smile.

"Okay. Her name's Alesa, and she's the prettiest and sweetest girl I know. She's my girlfriend, and I promised her I would come home..."

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