Johanna Mason- 68th Hunger Games (EDITING- ON HOLD)

Chapter 9

Dawn lit the arena a few hours later. I groggily rose my head up and looked around. Then I struggled to my feet, remembering where I was. I brushed off my blanket and shoved it back into my backpack, and held the axe firmly in my hand. I moved the ferns around to remove the marks I made when I slept there. I didn't want them following my trail.

I started to walk the in the same direction I got here. My legs still hurt from the hard run yesterday, but I managed to keep walking. And my throat was parched, too. I rose my hand up to my neck and rubbed it. 

As I walked along, I started to hear a faint rumbling noise. I lifted my head up and looked to where the sound was coming from. It was like thunder, but it was continuous.  

I strapped my backpack on and attached the axe to the side of my bag, in easy reach in case I need it. I walked faster through the pines. I had to jump over a fallen pine tree that was in my path. The undergrowth got thinner as I walked farther into the forest. 

I stopped as I heard a snore. It wad definatly human, and it was close. I took my axe in my hands and walked forward, quiet as a fox. 

I glanced around the ground. I saw one footprint in the mud, pointing in front of me. I tiptoed to the snoring, which got louder. Then I saw a brown coat over a limp body that was gently rising with each breath. I noticed it was a boy, but I wasn't sure which District he was from. I rose my axe above my head, closed my eyes, and brought it down as quick as I could. 

Ignoring the sickening thud and the blood that was on my axe, I took it back out of the body and turned away from the horrible mess. I spotted a backpack beside him, and snatched that up. I ran away, afraid to look back. Surely that image will haunt me if I did. 

The boom of thet cannon made me run faster.  

I ran to the thundering sound. It was getting fainter as I walked. I stopped beside a thick pine tree and held the bag in my hand. I turned my head to the opposite side of me. The noise was louder that way, so I started to trudge that way. But then I stopped again. 

I sat down and rummaged through the new bag of his. I found a liter that was empty, a long thin piece of string, and a hook. That was it. If there was a lake or pond somewhere, I could fish. Then I realized that that boy was from District Four. That was why he had chosen this backpack.  

I unzipped my old backpack and put the new stuff inside it. I had a hard time getting it back together, but I managed to zip it up. I tossed the other backpack aside and put my bag back on my shoulders.  

I continued walking towards the loud sound. I stepped over vines that trailed the road. But then I noticed something about them. I bent down to get a closer veiw. On the vines were spikes. They were dripping with some weird ooze that I didn't care to touch. More careful, I stepped over the vines and onto the main pathway again. 

A boom fired over my head as I walked. One less tribute, I thought. Seventeen more to go... they could be anywhere. I kept walking. 

After about fifteen more minutes of walking the pines opened up. I brushed aside the last pine tree. I walked into the clearing before me, and stared in awe. 

There was a large lake before me, with a waterfall. That was the thundering I was hearing. On the right side of me were cliffs that dropped into the lake, and the pines thinned out at the bottom. I pulled the backpack up that was riding down my arm. I bent down next to the water below me. 

I cupped my hands and dipped them in the water. I drew them back up and took and experimental lick. It was salt water. I shook my hands and stared at the waterfall. It was up on the cliffs, and dropped into the lake. That wasn't salted, I bet. No running water source was salted.