The Incoming Storm: The Tale of the 325th Hunger Games

Chapter 20

 In the night, I trade with Ross to take over guarding. When morning comes, Spoola must have switched guards. Spoola tops off our berries, while Ross refills our water bottles, and I pack up our cave and finalize my plan.

We regroup at the cave around mid-morning and have some breakfast of jerky, nuts, and berries, not a half-bad breakfast anywhere. The first part of our plan is to lay a diversion for the careers. We collect some of the green branches from the berry bushes and hike about a mile away from our cave. We light the fire, which will produce a large amount of smoke and hopefully lure the careers away from the cornucopia.

After lighting the fire we break into a jog away from the fire, about two miles out, we turn directions towards the cornucopia clearing. I hope we have traveled far enough out of the way from the fire that we won't run into the career pack.

We reach the cornucopia by early afternoon and carefully crawl under a thorny bush to get a good look. As I feared, they have left someone to guard the supplies. I see Jib's wavy brown hair sitting on a crate holding his machete looking out into the woods.

"What do we do?" Spoola whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Let's regroup," I say, and we shimmy our way back into the woods.

We go back about a hundred yards into the forest and climb a tree that gives us a good view of the clearing. "Well, we can maybe try to come back at night," Ross says.

"But then they'll all be here," Spoola says, that's way more dangerous.

I stare at the tiny figure of Jib, his back is facing us right now, he's looking out at the forest in the direction a small pillar of smoke rises out of the woods. We are running out of time.

"Whatever we are going to do, we need to do it fast, the careers are going to realize that was a trick soon," I say. As if on cue, a silver parachute lands in my lap. I grab it and pull off the parachute. There is a small clear cylindrical canister with four silver orbs about one inch wide in it and a purple "X" on them. I have no idea what they are.

Confused, I hold it out for Spoola and Ross to see. Spoola gasps and grabs them from my hand. "They're sleep bombs!"

Suddenly I recognize them from a game when I was younger. The victor from that year had collected a pouch full of them from the cornucopia and used them to put tributes to sleep before killing them. I realize that victor was Sasha Collar, Spoola's mentor. She's a genius!

I had one of the bombs to Ross, who has the best arm out of all of us. He taps the X and throws it towards the cornucopia. Jib rises as the orb hits the ground, but before there is any time to react a cloud of purple mist explodes out. It dissipates quickly, but the effect is faster. Jib is already on the ground asleep.

We set to work immediately, laying detonation cords and explosives all over the cornucopia clearing. We use the dusty dirt all around the clearing to conceal the wires and are cautious to avoid the main place where the careers have established camp. I venture into the back of the cornucopia and place a large bundle of the detonation cord in the crate of remaining explosives. I also pile a couple of canisters of gasoline and oil nearby, so hopefully, they ignite in the blast when the time comes.

As twilight begins to fall, Jib begins to stir. We retreat into the woods, and on my way, I grab the now hollow metal orb so as to not give away our presence. I can't tell if Jib remembers seeing the sleep bomb since he perches himself right back on the crate and resumes guarding as if nothing happened. I don't think anyone survived Sasha's sleep bombs in the past, so none of us know what to expect, whether they remember or not.

We retreat about a mile into the woods to a cave formed by the roots of a tree. "Tomorrow," I say, "We light the three trees and watch the fireworks."

"Think it will kill any of them?" Spoola whispers. Her voice is a mix of apprehension and excitement.

"We can hope can't we," Ross says, looking deep into Spoola's brown eyes. They give each other faint smiles.

"Think it will hurt them?" Spoola says, "Like our families in the fire?"

My stomach churns, imagining her and Ross's entire family engulfed in flame and explosions. Brick and metal raining down on them in their final moments. I think of my parents, engulfed in their own fiery death. Before anyone says anything else a silver parachute drops between us.

It is carrying a large tray filled with food. Cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, collard greens, gravy, tiny berries covered in sugar, a pitcher of ice water, a block of cheese with crackers, and silverware and plates for the three of us. We immediately dig in.

As we eat, the anthem begins to play in the sky. There are no deaths today, just the seal of the Capitol, but I know the audience will be wildly betting and partying in anticipation for tomorrow.

"Okay," I say, "You two sleep first, we have a big day tomorrow and need to be at our best. Whoever takes the first watch, make sure we have plenty of time before dawn to set off the trap."

We agree and Ross and Spoola huddle in the cave. They don't huddle like two people struggling for warmth, huddling isn't even the word I'd use to describe it... it's more like cuddling.

I turn my gaze to the forest, anxious for the day to come...