Grain & Blood | A Hunger Games collection

Never miss

If the careers were to come along right now, I would be dead. But maybe that's what they think I am. If they knew about the plan to blow me up, and if they were expecting the bombs, then that would have given them time to get away, and the sound of my cannon could have been lost in the explosion. I'll go and give them a visit, just to let them know I'm alive.
I stare down at my singed ankle, decide that it'll be fine or now, shake the debris out of my hair and try to rub the blood and ashes off my skin. How do I let the careers know that I'm alive? I can't just walk in and say, "Hi I'm alive I know what you did," because the alive part wouldn't be true much longer.
In my bag there's a small piece of bread left over from the District 4 loaf. Enough seaweed is prominent for the careers to know what I mean. And now all I have to do is find them.
Fires and explosions have ruined the forest, even where they didn't rain down destruction, to such an extent that I have no clue where I am, until I hear the careers talking about the explosions. It seems like they knew what was happening, and expected it.
"So the explosions... the bombs went off then," Kamalyn murmurs weakly. Still injured I see.
"Yes," replies Rift, "Iris probably blew up in the explosion, but there's a chance she got away."
"You don't need to explain it to me in that tone. I'm not a baby. "
"Sorry!"
"Shut up will you, I'm trying to get some rest"
Rift sighs and I know I'm near. I have to stop myself from going any further when I reach the edge of their camp, an area practically untouched by the devastation. They either got off lightly of knew this was coming, had it all planned out on where I was going to be.
I grab the bread from my pocket and aim for Rift's head. There is a chance that I could miss, but that same chance is there when I throw knives, and with knives I never miss.
The slice hits him right where I wanted it to. I have no time to wait for his reaction I just have to run.
A few seconds later he's running after me. Being chased by someone only a year older than you isn't hard, i.e Kamalyn, but Rift... well, he's 4 years older and a lot more physically able than me.
Trying my very hardest to avoid the still raging fire, I run for the trap that Kamalyn set up. Hopefully he won't realise where I'm going until he's dead and gone.
The path to the trap is about 500 metres long, half a kilometre, and starting to get close to the explosion zone. The fire shouldn't be raging here, probably not anyway.
I reach the end of the path as a fat drop of water lands on my head. It's raining, not exactly good weather but better than eternal drought. Where's the trap? I look around, terrified, and then I realise that the trap has been destroyed by the explosions.


I don't want to write an author's note.

-Katherine