𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟏𝟕

as mark had guessed, the lightning was striking down at the ground close by. since tributes weren't seeming to be coming out of their hiding places and attacking each other, the gamemaker's had taken it upon themselves to start killing tributes off or to chase them out of hiding.

"how far are we running?" jihyun asked, then gestured to her leg she was still limping on.

"get on my back." jeno said, his back facing her. he bent down and she climbed on, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs on his waist.

"let's go!" chenle shouted, pushing jaemin and donghyuck to start running.

they ran, following jisung and chenle as the heavy rain bucketed down on them. jihyun stared up at the sky, watching the lightning and where it struck. it wasn't random. it was interesting. there was a certain pattern to it but she couldn't quite figure it out.

"keep running to that tree!" mark yelled, pointing ahead of them where a large tree with big leaves was that they could use as a cover.

they ducked under it to catch their breath and jihyun slid of jeno's back, worried that she had tired him out too much. lightning struck close by and they all flinched, backing further away.

"when will this end?" donghyuck sighed.

"i don't think it will until someone dies." jihyun replied.

"then let one of you be the first to die." an unfamiliar voice said.

"watch out!" donghyuck exclaimed, pushing jaemin as an arrow went flying towards him. it landed in the tree right where his head had been a moment ago.

"who's there?" jeno called. "you can't hide now. there's eight of us so come out."

there was silence as they scanned the area around them, looking for the person. renjun turned to the arrow on the tree, examining its stance. his eyes followed from the spine to the nock that was raised and then he looked up at a tree opposite them. he could tell the person had to have shot from above. jihyun caught onto this, her hand reaching out to the knife in her bag and when she heard a soft rustle from where renjun was looking, she raised her arm and in a swift motion, threw the knife.

there was a cry of pain and then a boy fell from the tree, landing with a loud thud, his bow and arrows falling beside him. he stared at the group, eyes wide, realising he was most likely going to die. mark eyed the bow and arrow and rushed forward to grab it but the boy had reached it first and shuffled back, loading the bow.

"you made a mistake messing with us." jeno said, glaring.

"step any closer and i'll shoot." the boy threatened, dismissing the knife in his calf as he stood up, aiming his weapon at him.

"we could kill you in a heartbeat." donghyuck said.

"and if i let go of this, one of you will still die." he turned the bow to him this time.

lightning kept striking as they spoke back and forth, threatening to kill one another. jihyun continued watching the lightning as she could see better now.

ah... that's it.

she had figured it out. the thunder could be heard after every five seconds lightning struck so each flash had to be one mile away from each other. so when lighting struck again and it was approximately six miles away from them, she knew it would strike next to the boy in thirty seconds if it continued following the zig-zag pattern. she had to time it right.

the boy was too distracted by the others to notice jihyun with her slingshot loaded with a large rock. she aimed it at his head as lightning struck a little over one mile away. counting down, at exactly two seconds left, she released the rock, it hitting him square in the eye. he yelled out, stumbling back just as the lightning struck, hitting him.