kill for your love - the hunger games

(010) the great clairvoyant

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act one. 

(chapter ten, the great clairvoyant)

the arena, 72 ADD.

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IT WAS EARLY IN the morning when the three other tributes began to wake, Justice on watch and evidently amused when he saw them. Juniper was propped up against a tree and yawned when she opened her eyes. And whilst she expected to be back at Ten, it was quite a shock when she saw the swamp around her, the buzz of mosquitoes and flies, the hawking of birds, and the toad that was propped on her foot. 

When Juniper nearly screamed, everyone turned around to face her. But the toad on her boot was unbothered as it croaked, its beady eyes staring at Juniper. It was a grey-olive colour and was extremely large, warts covering its rough, dry skin. 

"Holy crap..." Ash mumbled as he rubbed his eyes, peering at the amphibian. "That is one big toad..."

"Is it poisonous?" Justice asked, immediately alarmed as he crouched next to his sister.

Cedar, whilst hearing the conversation, didn't seem so concerned until she took a quicker look at whatever the creature was. When she looked at its colour, the warts on its back, her eyes immediately widened as she pushed Justice and Ash away. "That's a Cane Toad."

"A... what?" Juniper raised a brow as she looked at the creature that was still perched on the tip of her boot. 

"It's a Cane Toad. It's poisonous, brainless." Cedar rolled her eyes. "Don't touch it. Wait here."

Cedar got up from her position and rounded the tree, reaching up to grab a large leaf. When she came back, she crouched near Juniper's boot, gently trying to push the toad off. After multiple tries, the amphibian finally had enough, leaping off of the girl's foot and plopping into the swampy water. 

"So everything in here is either deadly or poisonous?" Ash suggested as Juniper crossed her legs. She would rather the toad kill her than anything. 

"Correct." Cedar sighed, still eyeing the water. "We're gonna have to be careful... if we need food, I'd rather not hunt. We don't even know if those egrets we saw at the Cornucopia are dangerous or not."

"I mean — Great Egrets are—"

"How do you two know all of this stuff?" Justice immediately interrupted. "How do you two know so much about animals and how dangerous they are?"

"We go to school."

Justice sighed and rolled his eyes as he slipped his bag off of his back. None of them had the chance to check what was inside and so, the boy was the first one as he unzipped it, pulling everything out. A pack of crackers. Wooden matches. A black water bottle. And as the boy laid this out, Cedar, Ash, and even Juniper followed suit and in the end, they had two packets of crackers (from Justice and Ash), three water bottles (Cedar, Justice, Juniper), wooden matches (Justice and Ash again), an awl (Cedar), and four bundles of ropes. 

"Well... that's a good start." Ash shrugged as he shoved his crackers, rope, and matches into his bag. "Not a lot of food."

"We'll most likely have sponsors," Cedar tried to assure him as she zipped her pack back up. Juniper knew that none of them had a lot to live on, but she didn't mind. "I hope so anyway."