Grain & Blood | A Hunger Games collection

Rain

What do I do? Where do I go? The knives and ropes are lying limp on the ground, but looking like they could snap into action at any moment. Just in case, I leap high over the snare and land facing Rift. He snarls, and I realise that in my brief few seconds of pause he has noticed the trap and my plan. I sprint to the nearest tree and climb it, nestle myself in a branch about 4 metres up and make myself comfortable.
About a minute later, Kamalyn pounds down the path and halts directly beneath me.
"We should wait her out,"
"I could go up,"
Almost instinctively I climb a little higher, so that I'm perched on a thin branch.
"What about last time that happened? Benedict died. We aren't wasting your life on her."
Relieved, I slide back into my original position.
"I'll go and get supplies for a temporary camp, you stay here," she continues, "don't let her escape."
Kamalyn runs along the path back to their camp and disappears from my sight. Below, Rift circles the tree menacingly, cleaver raised, as if I'm stupid enough to try running.
Not 10 minutes later, she's back with blankets, tarpaulins, food and water. The two of them set up a camp, the tarp as a shelter from the rain and the blankets underneath protecting the blankets.
I wish it was still dry, because the rain hasn't changed the temperature at all, only brought heat and water. This could be the start of a storm.
The blazing fire in the near distance is blocking out all hints of sunset. All I know is that I'm hungry and the sky is getting darker. I shove the rest of the berries in my mouth, and take my time sipping at the chicken stew, a task which takes around an hour.
By now the air is cooling. I should go to sleep, get some rest for tomorrow, but there's no chance that I'm doing anything of the sort with enemies so close.
Hours pass, and Nikki's face shows in the sky. I know she's dead now. No one can fake it when they have a tracker monitoring their heartbeat that has proclaimed them dead.
Over the night, I drift off a handful of times, but snap back after a few minutes. I'm just waiting for sunrise, when I go in for the kill and probably die in the process. And over the entire night, there is always one, if not two, careers awake to stay watch and to make sure I don't escape.
The first beam of sun leaks across the horizon, and I know it's time.
I'm going to kill them.

Only a short chapter because it ends tomorrow.

-Katherine