Innocent Girl - A Hunger Games Fanfiction

Chapter 11: A New Ally

The routine is getting pretty predictable by now. It's day 7, and in total, thirteen of the twenty-four of us who came in are dead. Nobody died yesterday, in other words, Alek was the last one who died. It's still sinking in, that he's dead. I woke up this morning thinking that I need to set off as quickly as possible to find him. Everday I wake up and walk towards the mountain. Sometimes I run into tribute, sometimes I don't. Most aren't interested in killing though.
I am, though, running out of food. No, not running out. I have run out of food.
It turns out that the packet of dried fruit was not a lot at all, and while I tried to ration it, I finished the last of it yesterday morning. I'll be fine for today, but not for the days coming. I can't hunt either, with no weapons. Alek had the dagger with him. So I've got to live off of the plants. Most of the plants and berries look unfamiliar, so I've gathered a few bits of the inner batk on some of the pine trees in case I need to eat. But I've put it off as long as possible. I don't know why.
Honestly, it's pretty pathetic. I'm just wandering around the arena, picking parts off a pine tree and waiting for the careers to kill everyone else and hope they get killed too.
It's also really boring. But I mean, better boring than dead, right? It's probably a good thing that nothing's happening, honestly.
I continue walking for a while, until I eneter a clearing. And in the clearing is five fat, fluffy bunnies. They don't even notice me.
"If I had my bow..." I whisper wistfully. I stare at them for a few moments, before I take another step towards them for no apparent reason. Bad choice. Almost robotically, all five turn around. And their eyes are... red? One charges at me, and three others follow.
"What the-" I don't even get to finish my sentence before the first one bites me on the leg. I wince in pain, biting my lip to stop myself from shouting out.
"Get off me!" Another one bites me on the same leg, and the other two cling onto the other leg, scratching and biting. I cry out once, and try to shake the two biting me off. I have to physically grab one and fling it away, and shriek as it tears off a chunk of skin. Trying my best to ignore the pain, I grab two more and and fling them away, before grabbing the last one and flinging it to the same bush the others were sent to. Luckily, none of the others tore off a large amount of skin. I sigh in relief, finally done with them. Until I look up and notice the last one who stayed behind, staring at me with its large, red eyes.
You've got to be kidding me.
"Screw these demonic pests!"

After I've finally got rid of the last bunny, I'm stuck tending to the small chunk of skin that the first bunny tore off. I'm lucky that Alek had a medical bag, otherwise I would risk infection. Though pouring alcohol on a bleeding wound is not fun. I hiss again as it burns through my flesh. Finally Ikm done with it, and wrap a bandage tightly around the wound. The scratches and smaller bites are fine after a I run a bit of the antiseptic on them. Honestly, if the Capitol is so advanced, why are they still using such painful medicines? After I'm done, I stand back up and see how it is to walk. Not bad, but thereks a slight stinging pain each time I step on my left leg. I'll live though. I continue walking towards the mountain, like every other day. Except... Now that I've thought about it, why am I still going there? There's no point... But, I mean, since it's so far there could be a lesser chance of being found. Sighing, I continue my long walk to the mountain in the distance.

That night, there's no faces in the sky. Which means that thirteen of us died in the first week. Thirteen including Alek. One week in the arena seemed to have taken all of eternity but also went by really quickly. Like, the interviews felt like years ago, but the days feel shorter. I don't know how to explain it.

The next day follows the same pattern. Minus the psychotic bunnies though. Except halfway through the day, I start to hear footsteps. As I had done for almost every other time, I dive into the nearest bush, and a figure starts to walk past, pausing when they see my footsteps in the deep snow. They shrug and continue. And that's when I see the number on the back of their jacket. These numbers are really useful when identifying tributes. The jacket has  a large 7 painted on the back of it. And there's only one tribute left from district 7, and that's Blossom. Someone that I talked to in training. But... Can I trust her? She starts to walk away, and I decide to follow her. But instead of risking her seeing footsteps behind her, I decide that since the branches of each tree are pretty close together, I'll travel by tree at a safer distance. After climbing from tree-to-tree for about an hour, my foot slips. I shriek and grab another branch to stop myself from falling and then realising what I just did, I clamp my hand over my mouth.
"Who's there?" Shouts out Blossom, turning around with a hatchet in hand. Those are the same words Alek said when I spotted him. I stay deadly still, not even daring to breathe as I clutch the branch and try to blend in with the wood.
"Show yourself! I have weapons," she calls out, her voice quivering slightly. I stay where I am, frozen. Suddenly, the branch creaks, and quick as a flash, the hatchet comes flying towards my head, and I only just dodge it. I stare at it lodged in the trunk of the tree.
"Show yourself!" Repeats Blossom. Quickly, I hop down from where I was sitting in the tree landig in the snow with thud. She pulls out a knife and throws it at me, just missing me. Thank god her aim's not great; I didn't even see it coming. She's about to throw something else at me, and I instictively duck, but she stops and stares at me.
"A-Almond?" She stutters. I look at her fearfully but don't move.
"Sorry," I mumble, "I-I'll go now, if you don't kill me." I turn around, deciding that this was a bad idea.
"Wait- Do you want to stay with me?" She asks tentatively. I frown.
"Um, I saw Alek's picture three days ago..." she trails off. Oh.
"I'm sorry about Cedar," I whisper. Her eyes fill with tears, but they're quick to disappear and another expression comes over her face. One I can't quite make out.
"Well, District 7 never makes it out. At least he died quickly, since it was during the bloodbath," Blossom states bluntly, with no hint of sadness. Rather, a little bit of anger. Well, District 7 has always been known to be rebellious.
"Well, maybe you could be the next victor," I tell her. She looks hopeful for a moment, before her face turns back into a sullen frown.
"Not gonna happen. You remember Johanna Mason? Yeah, she's our last victor and she won the 71st games. So, like I said, not going to happen."
"The difference between District 12's first and second victor is forty-five years. And the difference between Haymitch and Katniss and Peeta is twenty-four years. It's been twenty-three years since your last victor won," I counter. Blossom rolls her eyes, unconvinced.
"Wow, didn't know you were good at maths." I smile.
"Where'd you get all these weapons from?" I ask, changing the topic.
"Cornuopia. It was pretty easy, honestly, nobody even noticed me. Speaking of weapons, you seem to be quite the climber. Could you grab my hatchet for me? It's my only one." I nod, and quickly climb back up and grab it.
"Catch," I call down to her, pretending to throw it to her. Blossom just stares at me.
"You're gonna throw an axe at your new ally from a tree, and risk chopping their their head in half?" She asks in disbelief, "Geez, I'm glad my younger brother wasn't like this when he was 12. That's terrifying." I laugh, and jump back down landing in the snow softly.
"So, it's official? Allies?" I ask, sticking out my free hand for her to shake.
"Allies. Until... Final five?"
"Deal," I agree, and hand her back the hatchet.
"Do you have any left-over bandadges, Almond?"
"Um, yeah, I do. You need some?" I ask, as I grab them out of my bag.
"Yes please. Some guy stabbed me in the shin with a knife on the first day, but my packs didn't have any bandadges in them. I only have food, matches and weapons."
"Is it infected?"
"Nah, it's fine. Just bleeds on and off; it's a pain, honestly." I hand her the bandadges and she takes them.
"Thanks, li'l squirrel." I look to her, surprised.
"Squirrel?"
"Well, you're like one," Blossom answers casually as she wraps her wound, "Like my sister." Tears start to form at the edges of her eyes, but she quickly blinks them away.
"Can I ask about her...?" Blossom does, but not before she decides we should get moving towards the mountain, which she has been trying to reach. She tells me that she has a twin sister, Ivy, the one who she volunteered for, and a younger brother, Basil, who's fourteen, like I guessed. And I know Cedar. Apparently, in District 7, it's expected of everyone that they drop out of school at fourteen to work full time as lumberjacks, and even before then, they work partime, so it's natural for everyone to be good with an axe. Sometimes there's riots about the Hunger Games, and everyone stops working for that day. Hundreds of people get shot on those days, because the peacekeepers just fire randomly. One time Blossom's father was shot in the leg, twice, and her cousins were shot dead. But everyone still protestsm despite all these risks and deaths. Even the children, who are the one punished at the Reapings.
"And the biggest ones are during the games. Especially when their tributes die. The families are always the ones who get hurt. For all I know my whole family could be dead right now..." Blossom looks away, and I see a single tear stray down her face.
"I'm sorry," I whisper.
"Not your fault," Blossom says thickly, giving me a sad smile. We haven't reached the mountain yet, so we have to settle into the trees for the night.