Battle Scars

Chapter 20: Shaking

Chapter 20: Shaking

Chapter twenty: Shaking
Towards the end of the day, Ellie and I were working in a small clearing in the forest, when we heard the noise of something falling from a tree. I turned to see a backpack lying on the ground. I went over to it, and looked up the tree, realising someone must be hiding up there. Peering through the branches, I could just see a patch of smooth, darkly coloured skin.
"Ebony?" I asked. There was a slight movement, and sure enough, Ebony's head appeared. "Come down and stay with us, we won't hurt you. It's just Ellie and I here."
"Oh, we're getting our own little PMS here, aren't we," chuckled Ellie, as Ebony slid cautiously down the tree. I handed her her pack as she reached the bottom, and she clutched it tightly. I felt sorry for her, she was far to young to ever have to experience this.
"Come on," I said, giving her a smile. "Do you need food or anything?"
"I've been eating berries and leaves," she replied quietly. "But please... Do you have water?"
"Here," I said, taking out my water bottle. I removed the lid, and she eagerly took it, and putting it to her parched lips, took a thirsty sip. Ellie and I reheated, and polished off the second half of bird number two, leaving me with half a bird left. I would need to hunt the next morning.
We settled down to sleep. On the ground, thankfully, not in a tree. A convenient thicket hid us from view, and after taking the first, and uneventful watch, I awoke Ellie, and she took the second whilst I slept.

The ground was shaking when I awoke. Ellie's face was a couple of inches from mine, and she looked pretty worried.
"I don't know what's happened," she said quickly. "This weather is so bipolar, it's gone from boiling hot to freezing cold, and there's even snow falling. And to cap it all we've got an earthquake to add to the mix."
"Wake Ebony, and we'll get out of here," I said quickly, sitting up fast. "It might be just this section of the arena that's having an earthquake. We can possibly escape it if we go elsewhere."
Ebony was awoken, but she was so terrified when she did awake that I half wished I'd left her asleep, and carried her away from the earthquake. However, she was a pretty courageous young girl, and she soon bottled her fear, and scrambled along the jumping rocks with Ellie and I to find a safe haven.
Just then, the first crack appeared. Right between Ellie's feet. In fact, the poor girl only just jumped aside in time to avoid being swallowed by the earth. We ran down a sudden snowy hill that had appeared in the landscape, and rounding a corner, we were suddenly faced with the cornucopia island.
"Just look at that thing, it's as cool as a cucumber," exclaimed Ellie suddenly.
"Ellie what are you talking about, it's surrounded by a burning ring of fire."
"No look!" She exclaimed. "It's not shaking." I realised she was right. Just then, a new crack appeared. The cracks were almost targeting Ellie, or so it seemed, because this crack separated her from Ebony and myself.
"You guys get to the corn!" She exclaimed. "I'll be alright." I didn't want to leave her, but I had no choice. Ebony and I ran over to the lava ring.
"It's because nobody died yesterday," panted Ebony.
"What?" I asked her.
"They're trying to liven up the games a little," she replied. "It won't stop until someone dies." It was a horrible thought.
I managed to get Ebony across the river of lava to the cornucopia island safely. I was preparing to grab a vine myself, when I suddenly thought of Ellie again. I couldn't leave her to fall into a crevice in the earth. I turned, and headed back the other way. Ellie was on the top of a hill, busily dodging a fairly hefty landslide.
"Ellie!" I yelled. "Make your way down here! I'll help you get across!" She acknowledged me with a nod, and as soon as she got the opportunity, she ran down the hill. Unfortunately, another crack opened up, and this time, she couldn't dodge it in time. I wasn't close enough to save her as she tumbled, screaming, down into a dark hole in the earth. The crack closed up after almost instantly, and the shaking stopped. A cannon sounded from somewhere below the earth. The earthquake had ceased, but at a high price. Ellie was gone. And it had all happened so quickly. Suddenly I heard a yell from Ebony. I was forced to leave Ellie and go and find Ebony. Before I left, I carefully laid the spear I had been making for Ellie on top of the now closed fissure in the earth. A tear ran down my cheek, but I wiped it away angrily.
"I'm sorry Ellie," I whispered. My voice shook. I counted to three, and then turned away, and ran back to the corn.
I was just in time to see a few PMS members leaving Corn island on some vines a little way away from where I was. They ran off into the forest in the opposite direction. Once I was sure they had left, I grabbed a vine, and swung across the river of lava. As I landed, I looked around for Ebony.
And then I saw her.
"Ebony!" I gasped, running over to her. A large gash on her stomach meant she was loosing blood, and loosing it fast. It didn't take me long to realise that I was about to loose my second ally as well.
"Who did this," I asked angrily.
"The columbian," she replied weakly.
"The one they call Nooch?" I asked. She nodded. It was Matt. I vowed mentally to avenge Ebony. She knew this from my expression. I looked at her again, and felt tears come to my eyes. I sat down beside her, and put my head in my hands, trying to stop the tears.
"It's ok Abby. You can cry."
So I did.

A/N: sorry... I cried a little when I wrote this?? Like what even haha...
plus it's kinda obvious that Ebony is a bit of a copy of Rue in The Hunger Games, sorry about that :P