Sunshine - A Hunger Games Story

15| Silhouette

"So, we heard a cannon, who died? I thought it was you, or even Sydney."

"The boy from 1. Tom was his name."

"Yeah, and we got his torch and all the bugs flew to it and that's how Ayesha got them to fly away," Sydney explains. We continue to walk through the forest and I try to blink the dizziness from my head. Once we had gotten back to our camp, we found all of our tools destroyed and most of them disappeared.

"That's good. Only the dipstick squad, 2-6-8, 7s and us. Just over half of the tributes left," Faith explains.

"It, uh... brings up the question–" I lean up against a tree to gain my balance again– "when are we going to split up?"

"Um.. yeah," Rhett says, looking over at me wearily. "You all know my plan. I'm guessing 9's doing the same for 8. 5, you're a wild card."

"We can team up against our Careers, maybe? If that's, okay," Faith suggests.

"If it's only us left, can we promise at least half a day to get ready before the final fight?"

"I'd agree with that," Rhett shakes his head.

"Me too."

"Let's stop here and review everything we know so far." We all sit down against various trees in the tall grass. "So, the arena goes from a cornucopia, to tall prairie grass, to a forest or mountains, then to a desert with a river-now stream in the middle. Where is everyone inside of that?"

"Me and... Floyd saw the dipstick gang run up into the mountains. Haven't seen them since. They were the ones who originally had the cornucopia. 11 girl, 3 boy, and 10s all have died. I think we can assume either 268 or 7s have killed them, meaning they are around where the mountain and forest intersect."

"The 7s have to be somewhere close to here. They work with trees for a living, so it would only make sense that they picked familiar terrain," Sydney adds.

"We should try and find the 7s and take them out soon before they can surprise us."

We all settle down as the sun sets. Still awake, just not talking or moving. Rhett sits with his sister laying on his chest, cooing to her and petting her hair. Faith has climbed up into a tree and is picking at the bark. Henri has picked up my sword and is now cleaning it with a wad of grass.

I pick at the frayed edges of my leggings turned shorts. The two pant legs are cut at uneven length from different cloth-needing situations. Henri had commented on how the high thread count would be best for bandages instead of the thin tank top.

"Ayesha, why did you want me on your team?" Herni whispers to me.

I take a deep breath. "I have a brother, 3 actually. You remind me of them, and no one that young should die. Plus, you've got talent that the world needs to see." I smile at him.

The anthem plays out in the sky, showing the boy from district 1.

One by one, we all fall asleep. First it is Faith, then Sydney, and then Henri. For not having slept in over 36 hours, I'm surprisingly not tired. The thought of cloning my eyes in the dark terrifies me.

Rhett stands up, slow enough to not disturb his sister. He tip toes over to me. "Thank you." He states it simply. No explanation needed. He's thanking me for saving his sister.

We fall asleep too.

The next day we hear the voice of 2-6-8. With Sydney still exhausted and Rhett refusing to go and fight them now, we spend the whole day under grass or up in trees.

The following day, we search for the 7s. We don't find them 'till the 19th day.

As we are walking through the forests, I spot a black silhouette against the green underbrush. I turn and see another one. "Did you see that?" Another one scampers up a tree. "Over there. Tell me you saw that."

"Yeah, yeah I did. I think we found ourselves some sevens." Rhett adjusts the trident in his hands.

Another flash of movement and something comes flying in our direction. Landing in the trunk of a tree is an axe just inches away from Henri's shoulder.

I slowly make my way in a large arc around to where the tributes from 7 are, picking up my pace as I continue. Rhett walks straight towards them with his trident at the ready.

As I am nearing their location, I spot the boy from 7, a lot closer than before. I start sprinting to him and tackle him to the ground. Now, without his axe with him, he has no defense besides his hands. Good thing I'm good with hand to hand combat.

I take the boy down to the ground and we roll around until he is above me. I hit my forearms against his hands to make him lose his balance. I grab his head and just as I am about to punch him, a trident buries itself into his abdomen. I can see his eyes of shock. Blood drips out of his mouth and onto the ground next to me as his eyes unfocus. I quickly push him off of me and look up at the thrower. Rhett stands a few dozen feet away. It is easy to forget how deadly he is with one of those things. A cannon goes off.

My mind briefly flips to his reaping. How he cried. His mom screaming for him, black hair up in a messy lump atop her head and being held back by a large man in plaid. I can picture her crying even more inside a house, maybe on a couch.

What if he was an only child? What if his family is going to starve if he's not there to help provide for them? I just helped kill a boy, a woman's son, someone's best friend, someone's family. Oh, God.

I try not to mind as I pull the weapon out of the dead boy's back. Rhett jogs up to me and takes his trident from my hands.

All our group walks up to the tree where the second 7 is. She knows her fate. In an act of panic she tosses her axe down. The edge of the blade glazes Faith's back causing blood to pour out.

At the same time, Rhett throws his spear into the girl's head. Dropping her axe had left her out in the open and cost her everything. The girl's body sags against a tree branch. A cannon booms. Blood drips down the trunk and I cannot bring myself to look up at the disfigured girl. Such a terrible and horrific death.

Rhett lets Sydney climb up the tree to grab his weapon, something I would never do. How can you let a little kid see that? He is only 18, he's still a kid not an adult.

Gosh dang-it Ayesha. I keep thinking of myself as better or wiser. I keep thinking that I'm the adult and that it's my responsibility to take care of everyone. You are in the Hunger Games. 15 years old and forced to kill people. You are not responsible for everyone. I feel like my mom would say something like that.

For a split second, when reminded of my mother, I feel grief. No, my mom's not dead. My mind flashes to her bloody face with a bloody eye socket. She's not dead.

"Are you okay Faith?" I am pulled out of my head and back into reality. Henri's hands are pressed up against the edges of Faith's back, assessing the severity of the cut. "It's not that deep. We'll need to clean it, maybe and put a bandage on it too."

The night is hard. Instead of being able to sleep under the grass or up in a tree, Faith has to sleep out in the open. The temperature has dropped from previous days creating even more of a problem. I have shorts and a tank top on, Rhett lost his jacket in the big river wave, Sydney's jacket got ripped open in several places by the cave leech-mutts, and we have no insulators because all of our stuff got destroyed by the wave. We can't build a fire, it's too risky and draws in too much attention. We end up sleeping closer together than our normal spread out positions. Rhett and Sydney sleep touching each other to share body heat. They sleep a foot away from me Henri and Faith and together we are warmer than apart.