PREDATOR | THE HUNGER GAMES

THIEVERY

"Walk me through it again."

Lara huffed and set Della down on the ground, taking a much needed rest.

"We've been through this all day," she complained. Her ally simply waved her hand to make her continue.

"We wait in the trees and then set a fire right outside the border of their camp. Hopefully they send some people to check it out, which leaves us a fighting chance with whoever is left behind."

"What if they don't investigate the fire?"

Lara shrugged, wiping the sweat off her face and crouching to rest her legs. She was too fatigued to think about the plan right now. She'd been up all night scouting out the supplied campsite and spent all morning finding a way to infiltrate it. The heat of the day was even worse than the past, simply because it stayed constant throughout the night-a certain humidity never faded. There was no wind to relieve her drenched body.

Their current walk to get there proved difficult as she had to sling Della's arm around her and drag her along. The latter's leg was basically dead weight.

Lara saw the moon cresting above them, creating the perfect shadowy cover for their mission.

"Come on," she grunted, picking herself back up, "We need to keep moving."

She wrapped Della's arm around her shoulders once more and hauled her up. She carried them both closer to the campsite, slowing down as she began to see the glow of their fire.

Both of the girls became silent, only communicating with their eyes. Della attempted to hold herself up on her own, but she nearly tipped over the moment she disconnected from her ally. Lara leaned her against a tree farther away from the camp.

"Think you can get up?" she wondered, pointing to the nearest branch. Della glanced up and nodded with determination. Lara monitored as she pulled herself up with only one working leg; it was surprising how much strength Della actually had. Once she got to the third branch, she settled down.

"I'm gonna go set the fire. Be my eyes," Lara whispered up. She carefully began to creep to the other side of the camp, going a little farther back to where she'd set up a small fire pit the night before.

It was strange how bare and light her body felt, not being weighed down by the pack. It felt vulnerable, but she hoped it was soon to change.

She squatted down and picked up a stick. She rubbed it up and down quickly while it rested in a hole on a log. She kept going until it created enough friction to alight a spark. She tended to it with kindle and threw dry leaves on top until it grew into a full flame.

She was quick to take that flame and throw it onto the tree beside her. Its leaves caught fire and rapidly spread to its branches. She didn't linger to watch its trunk alight as well, but she knew from the smell. She ran away so as not to be caught, making her way back to Della before the flames got too noticeable.

When she did, Della pointed out that four of the five tributes were going to investigate what was now a large and raging fire. Lara watched through the small opening in the brush as they worriedly chatted amongst themselves before deciding to head off.

All that remained was one.

Lara stayed low as she approached the small entrance in the gap in their fortress of forest brush that protected them. She paused just behind it to wait for Della's signal.

Her ally waited until the other tributes couldn't be heard anymore before giving her the thumbs up. Lara nodded and slipped inside the campsite, immediately hiding behind one of the crates from the cornucopia.

Her enemy balanced a sword in their lap, casually tossing twigs into their fire. He was seated in the middle of the site, a perfect place to see all incoming surprises. But Lara maneuvered through the supplies expertly, making it all the way to the crate of weapons-the crate that held her batons.

She was so close to reaching them. She just had to make sure to avoid his eye line as best as possible.

Unfortunately, she forgot about her shadow.

The light of the fire projected her moving figure onto the ground, causing the tribute to whip around with his weapon at the ready. He spotted her instantly and charged with his weapon raised.

Her eyes widened as she narrowly dodged his first strike, his blade lodging into the crate she'd ducked behind. She shoved it towards him, causing a distraction long enough to run towards and grab her preferred weapon.

She immediately felt powerful with them in her hands. An unsettling confidence overtook her instinct. She barely had time to ready herself before having to block off another blow from his sword. Metal hit metal; surely the sound wouldn't go unnoticed by his counterparts.

She grunted as she pushed back against his hold. She slid one of her batons between their crossed one and brought it against the tribute's wrist. She used it as leverage to pull his arm down, causing him to disengage his weapon so as not to break his bone.

She then held it pressed against her chest as she brought her other baton up to strike at his back. He was fortunate she used the blunt side, preventing him from serious injury.

She delivered a quick blow to the stomach, briefly releasing her hold on his pinned arm. He was smart enough to take advantage of the hole in her offense.

He used his freed arm and wrapped it around her neck, pressing her back against his chest. When she tried to blindly stab him, he wrenched the weapons out of her grip and threw them away.

She struggled too much for him to handle, so he threw her away too. Lara landed right in front of the fire, crawling towards it on her elbows so she could avoid a quick death. But he just sauntered closer when she tried to scramble.

There was no way for her to get past him.

She glanced behind her as she felt the heat of the flames dance across her skin. The burns from the acid rain started to melt back open. Her throat inhaled the smoke and threatened to make her stop breathing. Or was that her panic?

She noticed that there was a log on the very bottom that contained the biggest flame in their makeshift pit. Just as her opponent reached for her leg to drag her back, she reached behind and grabbed it, hitting him on the right side of his face.

The ash and fire immediately sizzled against his skin. He screamed in anguish as his face burst into several blood spouts. He stumbled towards her, blind and in agony. She rolled out of the way just in time before he tripped and tumbled head first into the flames.

Lara rushed to pull herself back up as he writhed and screeched in the fire. She ran towards the pile of packs, slinging two over her shoulder-one of them her old pack, which contained the medicine Della needed.

She nearly froze in terror as the tribute's entire body began to alight. He couldn't get out of the flames-his body too weak now to move. All he could do was sit and suffer until every inch of him was seared away.

Della limped in the entrance and yelled at her, "Lara, let's go! Hurry!"

She snapped her head towards her ally and glanced back at the burning boy. Surely his loud agony would attract his partners back, but she couldn't leave him like this.

Lara ran towards him, grabbing a nearby trident on the way, before hovering right above the flames. She raised the trident high above his chest and brought it down into his heart. His writhing stopped and his screams went silent.

She couldn't bring herself to look at his mauled and mutilated face before running away. She grabbed Della's arm, slung it over her shoulder, and ran.

They ran past the lake, the careers, the cornucopia, and the dangers of the night. They didn't stop running until they reached the familiar safe haven within their cave.

They heaved and struggled to regain air in their lungs-taking a full ten minutes before talking. Della was the one to speak, the image of the burning human engrained behind her eyes.

"Fuck that was brutal."

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