The 73rd annual Hunger Games

Chapter 19

Athena POV:

We set out to look for tributes once Oakley and I return from our animal hunt. I have my vest full of freshly sharpened knives and am feeling good. We leave Lillian and Harrison at camp so nobody steals our stuff. We start at the stream that Oakley and I have already been to twice since getting in this arena. I notice something that I didn't before.

"Hey guys, look." The ground around the base of the stream is battered like someone was stomping around. I take a closer look and see that it is indeed, human footprints. Felix comes up beside me and kneels on the ground next to the prints. He sticks his finger in the dirt and licks it.

"Ew, was that really necessary?" I ask.

"Egh, not really but it puts me in the hunting mood," He smirks.

"Moving on," I announce loudly.

"Looks like they were moving this direction," Oakley says.

"West," I finish her thought.

"Yes."

We head west at a steady jog. By the placement of the sun I can tell it's around noon. We keep moving until Oakley instructs us to stop.

"Do you hear that?" She asks.

"No," Felix answers.

"Listen closely," I whisper.

"Oh, you're right. Sounds like..." Wade starts.

"Footsteps." Oakley finishes.

"Yes." I smirk at the others. We take off sprinting in the direction of the footsteps. We break through the trees into a clearing where a girl is desperately trying to climb up a tree. She is half way up. We surround the bottom of the tree so if she falls she's toast. She reaches the first branch which is almost low enough for Wade to reach. He tries to swing his sword up to the girl but it's just too tall. Someone needs to go up there. Just as I'm about to say this, another girl runs into the clearing. She stops dead in her tracks as she sees us.

"Get her!" Yells Wade. Felix and Oakley take off after the girl.

"I got to climb the tree," I say to Wade. I grab out my favourite knife and put it in my mouth then begin to climb. Once I reach the branch the girl sits on, I begin to climb out onto the branch. I scale the tree as fast as I can making sure I put my feet and hands in sturdy spots. The girl climbs and climbs until she reaches the top of the tree.

"No way out now, huh," I smirk at her. She has a panicked look on her face.

"Now, you have two options. One, let me kill you, or two, jump down and have Wade kill you." The girl looks around hopelessly and looks to the rocky bank of the river. She positions herself differently and in a split second leaps off the tree towards the cliff. She flies right to the bank and makes no attempt to catch herself. She falls flat on one of the sharpest rocks, right on her head. A cannon sounds. I look down to Wade.

"Did that really happen?" I ask him as I make my way out of the tree. Honestly, I'm disappointed I didn't get to do it myself.

"I think so," he scratches the back of his head. We stand confused for a minute before another cannon sounds.

"That must be Oakley and Felix's kill," I say.

"Ya. Probably." A few moments later Felix returns out of breath with Oakley in his arms.

"Ooo. Look at you, getting a ride?" I ask them with a smirk. Felix gently sets Oakley down, I notice by the way she stands that she must have injured her foot. I also notice that the bottoms of their pants are soaked.

"Oh shut up." Oakley rolls her eyes. If she did injure herself, she doesn't show it on her face.

"We killed the girl, and damn was she feisty," Felix pants.

"She was like a cat!" Oakley exclaims. "What about you guys? Did you kill the girl?"

"Well, kind of. But she kinda did it for us." I point to the river, Oakley puts a hand to her mouth in shock. Felix starts laughing and I look at him in disbelief.

"Why?" I ask, pressing my palm to my forehead.

"I don't know, it's funny!" Felix continues to laugh. We make our way around the forest looking for more targets. We kill two of those fat birds, four hares, and a large pig-like creature. We walk until the sun begins its descent. With no luck finding anything else, we decided to walk back to camp. Once we get back, Lillian and Harrison are chatting away happily. So useless. We unload the meat and let Felix and Oakley skin them. Ugh, their like little love sick puppies. Makes me sick. I re-organise camp and stash equal portions of food. Lillian and Harrison are really getting on my nerves by being so useless. They giggle and chat like old friends in a school yard.

"Lillian! You come here and finish organising. Harrison, I want you to skin the meat for Felix now, He's been going long enough," Oakley gives me a saddened look when she hears Felix is going to trade off. I chuckle to myself. Wade is cooking the skinned meat and it smells a-m-a-z-i-n-g. The air temperature is starting to drop and I feel myself start to shiver.

"Done!" Oakley happily announces when they finish skinning. I grab the meat and bring it over to Wade.

"Oakley, let's go chuck the skin in the forest," I say, collecting the skin. She grabs the rest and follows me across the plain to the forest bank. We walk in silence for the most part. The dark is consuming.

"So..." Oakley starts.

"So, you and Felix are two peas in a pod," I smirk at her.

"What do you mean? No, we're not!" Even in the dark I can see her bright red cheeks. "Also why is it that whenever we have a conversation it's about Felix and I?"

"Honestly I hadn't even noticed," I chuckle. "Ok, I can see what you're talking about." I laugh. and chuck my handful into the woods. She does the same and we begin to trench back. The smell of meat is so good I can't even think of anything but it. Once we reach camp, Wade, Felix, Lillian, and Harrison are already chowing down like pigs.

"Hey! You started without us!" I grumble angrily.

"Oh, sorry," says Wade.

"You better be," I snap, reaching for a leg from the fire. I sit next to Oakley, who doesn't seem too offended they started without her. I munch all the meat from the bone and chuck the bone back in the fire. Mid-way through our meal, the anthem begins to play as the picture of the girl who was up the tree appears. Apparently she was from District 9. Then the boy that Oakley and I killed in the tree appears, he's from district 11. Next, the girl from 12 that Felix and Oakley chased. That's all the kills from today. We finish eating then head to bed. Wade takes first shift and stays to sit by the fire. I fall asleep to the sound of fire crackling and frogs croaking.

****

I'm woken abruptly to the shaking of my arm. Lillian has her face so close to mine I can hear her breathing.

"Augh! Get away from me!" I shout, sitting up. Lillian looks at me confused then shrugs and walks to her sleeping bag. I walk over to the fire which is now just embers. They still radiate heat though. I sit on a log that Wade pulled from the forest and stare in the direction of the frogs croaking. Suddenly I feel a presence behind me. Luckily, I always sleep with a knife in my waistband. I leap up and spin around, grabbing the knife out and sticking it in the direction. Wade jumps back, a look of fear on his face. But soon his signature smirk returns and I roll my eyes.

"Did I scare you?" He coos. I roll my eyes and turn back to the embers, sitting back on the log. He comes and stands beside me.

"Why are you up?" I ask, looking up at him.

"Had to piss," He shrugs.

"I see."

I look away but I can still feel his eyes on me. I look back at him and he quickly looks away.

"You should go to sleep," I look back at the fire.

"Ok."