Celebrity Hunger Games

Chapter 15

Chapter 15.

~ Calum Hood's P.O.V ~

Calum was helping Luke when the explosion happened. "Oh shit!" he cursed, springing up in surprise and looking around instinctively.

Ashton was up in an instant, katana blade raised and ready to strike. "What the hell was that?" he demanded, voice cracking.

Calum looked over at Taylor, who already had her bow loaded and was scanning the trees for any sight of attackers."It was Zendaya," Luke trailed off. "She had the bombs."

"So someone has the bombs now?!" Ashton demanded, face burning red out of anger and panic. "What the hell?"

"We don't know that, Ash! Maybe she accidentally set one off!" Calum shot back, knitting his fingers through his dark hair out of frustration. But they were grenades... As if reading his mind, Taylor spoke up.

"They were grenades," Taylor said shortly, as she put the pieces together. "Someone had to pull the pin."

Calum looked up, running his hand down his face. Did Zendaya try to end her life? the thought flashed through his mind, making him feel sick. They were down to 9. 9 players left in the game. "Guys, Either Zendaya killed herself or someone killed Zendaya. They could be close." he alerted everyone.

Taylor immediately began packing her backpack, and Calum furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"Are you leaving?" he asked.

Taylor met Calum's gaze unflinchingly. "If Zendaya is dead, there's only 9 of us left. And sooner or later, We're gonna have to turn on each other, and I don't want to be there for that," Taylor said, bow still raised presumably in case Calum tried to kill her. "Good luck."

Ash looked over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at her. "Get out before we shoot you." he warned her, and Calum watched her curse at him before taking a few steps back.

"Hopefully we don't come across each other between now and the final two." Taylor said, though Calum decoded it quickly - I hope you all die before I have to kill you myself.

Calum nodded. "Thanks for everything, Taylor," he sighed, holding her blue gaze for a moment longer before she slung her backpack over her shoulder and vanished through the trees.

As soon as she was gone, Ash dropped his katana blade in frustration."Why didn't we kill her?" he asked, running his fingers through his hair with a huff.

"Because I want someone else to," Calum replied simply. "We saved her, she saved us. I just hope the Careers knock her out before we have to."

"We should probably leave too," Luke said, standing up with his backpack. "That grenade going off alerted everyone of our general location, you know."

Calum furrowed his eyebrows."We aren't splitting up yet, are we?" he asked, unable to hide his disbelief. I couldn't even imagine looking at these boys as enemies...

Luke's blue eyes softened. "Of course not," he replied. "I'd never turn on you guys unless I absolutely had to, like the final three or something."

Calum nodded. "Neither would I," he looked at Ashton, who had his back to both of them and was packing his backpack. "Ashton?"

Ashton stopped, glancing over his shoulders. "Course not," he said in an unusual soft voice. "I wouldn't want the final three to even be us if it meant killing you guys. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was kind of hoping someone else would kill you guys so I wouldn't have to face you all.."

Calum nodded, unsurprised. After all, He had been thinking the exact same thing. "Let's go, guys. Just hide the weapons we don't bring and let's head east."

The walk was quiet as the boys trekked through the unexplored part of the arena. The ground had begun to get steeper and hilly, not to mention the climate getting cold as they neared the mountainous area. It was nearly sunset by the time the boys stopped in a quiet, peaceful meadow shielded by pine trees on all four sides. "Want to camp out here for the night?" Calum asked Luke and Ashton, letting his heavy backpack slide off of his arm and into the yellowing grass.

"Sounds good." Luke replied, dropping his stuff as well with an exhausted sigh and falling into the flowers. A low thud into the grass signaled that Ashton had done the same, and Calum turned to see him using his backpack as a pillow.

"It's getting colder." Calum observed, zipping up his light windbreaker and sighing, looking up at the sky just in time to see Zendaya's, Niall's, and Ariana's pictures in the sky. With a little sigh, he looked back down, drawing his knees up to his chest and rocking back and forth. He never expected to get this far, and he felt guilty. Niall deserved it more than he did.

 "Should we build a fire?" Luke asked, blue eyes big, dilated pools as the light rapidly subsided.

 "Not worth it." Ashton replied shortly, tucking his muscular arms behind his head and crossing his legs as he shut his eyes.

"Ashton's right," Calum agreed, shrugging at Luke. "I don't want another head - on collision with the careers." Because now there's an equal amount of us to them, he silently finished.

"Alright," Luke sounded disappointed that he wouldn't be warm, but sat up with his new kindjal resting in his lap. "I'll take first watch."

"Mmkay," Calum mumbled, already curled up next to his backpack with his fingers resting on the dagger fastened into the holster at his hip. Though his body was exhausted and desperately craving rest, Calum's mind was very much awake as it whirred with all of the horrors he had experienced in the games. I wish that I could wake up with Amnesia, he thought. Maybe I'll ask for that if I win the games so I can forget it all.

"I wonder what happened to the girl from 3," Ashton said after a few minutes of quietude. "Wasn't she with the Careers?"

"She probably left them," Luke guessed. "She's still out there."

Calum let his eyes flutter shut after that, falling into a light - very light - slumber.

It was past midnight when Luke shook Calum awake to take the next watch. "On it." Calum grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes groggily as Luke bedded down for the night. He sat on top of a rotting stump after clearing it of the boys' food, twirling the knife around in his fingers absently as he scanned the quiet wilderness. Sometimes he forgot that the arena was just one big illusion, that the moon in the sky was a mere projection and the birds singing were just manipulated atoms straight from the capitol. The moonlight was almost too bright to be real, as if it were just enough to be able to see an opponent in battle...

"Do you see anything?" A very familiar voice hissed into the wilderness, causing Calum's tiredness to disappear in the blink of an eye.

Bella.

"Luke! Ash!" Calum dug around on the ground for some pebbles, quickly throwing them at each of the boys to wake them up. Ash was up in an instant, fingers enclosed around his katana blade as he rose into a crouch. Luke sat up, rubbing his eyes and about to ask what was wrong when Ash shushed him by thwacking him upside of the head.

"It's them." Calum hissed, grip tightening around his dagger as he peered into the darkness, looking for movement. He saw Taylor Lautners' tall figure first, along with his long sword. Harry was treading beside him, bow raised and loaded, while Bella took the rear with her sickle gleaming harshly in the little moonlight.

Taylor hasn't gotten to Bella yet, Calum silently acknowledged.

"There!" Calum's stomach dropped as Taylor pointed his sword right where they were crouched. "I see the light reflected off of the sword!"

"Shit, Ash!" Luke cursed as Ashton blinked in disbelief.

"Get ready guys!" Calum called, not caring if the Careers heard them or not. He took a look at his ranks, and then the others charging across the field, and realized, I would be fine dying side by side with these boys.

And then he charged.

~ 9 TRIBUTES LEFT ~