The Sixty-Eighth Hunger Games

Chapter 11- ADDIE

 We have to stand here for a full sixty seconds, and I don't even try to count. I scan the tributes, looking for anyone who I should avoid, and I see Raina is closer to the other side of the Cornucopia, poised and ready to run. Torrac is directly to my left and I eye him apprehensively. Nick is just next to James, and I can't see Brie's red curls, so I assume she's behind the Cornucopia.

I wonder how much time is left. I take deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, and eye the bags on the ground in front of me. It's like a game of shells- where you don't know which one contains something good, and you have to guess.

I meet James' eyes, and see him mouthing numbers. Eight, seven, six...

I keep watching him as he counts down. Three, two, one... He's a few seconds off and we figured this was probably the case, so neither of us move, but one other boy was also apparently watching James' counting. He sprinted forward and immediately the mine under his podium went off, spraying grass and dirt everywhere. I'm sure his body was vaporized in an instant. I barely have time to register this before the gong goes off.

Some of the tributes hesitate, after seeing what happened to the boy, but I sprint ahead. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Torrac snap out of it and follow me, while simultaneously watching to make sure James runs too. Nick follows him, and for a moment I consider following them to make sure James stays okay, but I don't think Nick would hurt him.

I dart in a little further than I'd thought I would, and snag three backpacks- which are all suspiciously light, but it doesn't matter- and a random knife that I almost trip over.

As I finish gathering what supplies I can carry, everyone else is reaching the Cornucopia. Raina snatches a spear and hurls it at Torrac, but he dodges it somehow and it hits a boy behind him. She yells angrily, and the boy from One tosses her a sword. I switch directions and start to run out of the battle zone, but I'm far from being in the clear. I duck as someone swipes a knife over my head, and then I run into a girl my age, knocking her over. Suddenly, she's jumped on by a blonde-haired boy, and she screams as I hurdle over them and run in the opposite direction.

I'm almost to the trees when I hear a whistling sound. I don't even turn to look, I just throw myself onto the ground. A spear embeds itself in a tree just above where I lay, and I waste valuable seconds as I pull it out. Yes, I took time that I probably shouldn't have, but now I have a spear. Good news: that's one more weapon than before. Bad news: it makes it running very difficult. I'm lucky that I'm not being chased.

"Addie!" It's James. Not only am I lucky for not being chased, I'm lucky to have even found him. He- and Nick- are halfway up a tall pine tree.

They climb down, and I realize that I can still hear the sounds of fighting. "We need to get further away," I say, remembering what I was told.

James nods. "Gimme stuff to carry."

A few moments later, we each carry a backpack, Nick has the spear, and I have the knife. It's crazy how much easier it is to run without a spear that is taller than I am getting in the way. We just run for as long as we can, James setting the pace. Kid's a pretty good runner.

Maybe an hour later, we take a break and go through our stuff. The heaviest of the backpacks contains one tightly rolled sleeping bag, which makes me wonder how cold it gets at night, and we're lucky enough to find matches in one of the other ones. We also find two other knives, and a few packs of dried meat and crackers, which we agree to only eat if there's nothing else. Then there's also an extra pair of heavier gloves, a tiny blanket, three coils of rope, each of which I estimate to be about twenty-five feet long (I should know, right?) and a water canteen.