Save me - A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 13

The sun was rising. It was very early in the morning and Ash and I had just discovered a small orange bush. We filled ourselves with the sweet, tangy fruit and packed some extras in our backpacks, before continuing to the cornucopia. 

Our plan was simple, hide in the bushes behind and wait. Then when the coast was clear, run and grab whatever they had for us. And finally, get out of there. 

Approaching the bushes,  which lay in between the cornucopia and ourselves, Ash gripped his spear even harder and I double checked my knives were secure on my waist. The morning was silent and still, and soon, Ash nodded.

Swiftly, we escaped from the bushes and headed for the mouth of the cornucopia. But we weren't the only ones. In fact, I could see 6 of us all heading at the same time. It was all of the other tributes except for the Careers from District 2. Strange. I thought they would have been the first to grab whatever this prize was. Maybe the ones from 1 were getting it for them.

But then I heard it. A low rumble at first. But as we reached the cornucopia, they burst into sight. 

Two huge, black, spiky spiders about four times the size of a human. I could see their razor sharp teeth as they sprinted for us. The other tributes were as shell shock as I was and we all stared at each other in fear. Ash grabbed a bag in the cornucopia which held our prize. But shouting in anger he confirmed our original fear. They were empty. There was never any prize. It was a clever way to trick us into getting together in front of these spider mutts.

I pulled a knife from my belt and aimed it at the closest spider which was too close. It landed deep in its forehead. But apart from a slight squeal of pain, it continued on as if nothing had hit it. We started to run in the opposite direction, but they were too quick. Instantly, the girl from 1 and the boy from 1 were crushed by the spiders and the other four of us screamed as we ran for our lives. Ash and I, who were leading in front by quite a bit, reached the bushes and scrambled up the tallest and strongest trees we could find. The spiders wouldn't be able to reach us from up there. 

From up in the tree, I had a clear view of the others down below. They were so close. Yet not close enough. Instead of crushing their bones like with the others, each spider took one tribute each and started wrapping a thick white web around them. I could hear their extremely heavy breathing as the spiders suffocated them, drawing their last breaths away. I watched them crumple to the floor, and shivered. I remembered their names. Marina and Aero. Poor things.

I started to shake in fear that the spiders could reach us, when Ash pointed to the spiders. They were running off in the complete opposite direction to us. The obviously weren't as smart as they were deadly.

A while later, when I controlled my fear, we jumped down from the trees and headed back into the forest. In a matter of few minutes, we went from 8 tributes to 4.