May the odds be ever in your favour

Chapter 10

Relief is painted on my face as I examine my leg and realise the fire didn't melt too much off my skin. My inner thigh is swollen now and blisters are everywhere. The smell of burned skin slowly suffocates me. It looks terrible and feels even worse but thankfully it isn't like my father's burns back when the accident happened in the factory.

I remember my mom bringing Dad back home that day. His forearm had been fried, the healers said it was a third-degree burn and would be difficult to recover. There was an explosion in the facility he was working in and the fire spread quickly. Father was lucky to get out with only injuries. Ten people lost their lives that day. They could have been even more if it wasn't for a few workers ,including my father, who knew an escape route. Some, even now after years, whisper during the night that the explosion wasn't an accident. But what else would it be? Why would someone set a factory ablaze? What could possibly one gain by the deaths of workers who provide the Capitol with clothing?

Voices are approaching me. Voices filled with laughter, both feminine and masculine. "There she is," says a brunette girl running towards me. I quickly get up and dash away from her and her group neglecting my injury. I'm in excruciating pain but I keep on running. I have to find someplace where they won't be able to get me! Looking around my eyes fall upon a huge tree, probably 5 metres high. My only choice is to climb it. It makes perfect sense! If I can somehow manage to climb up there, the thick branches and leaves will cover me from daggers and arrows. If only I could climb into a safe, steady branch in time.

The Careers are on my trail now, quicker than ever, hungry to take their desired kill. I need to climb that tree now! The only experience I have with climbing is during training. During those few days when my life was temporarily secured by the Capitol. So I choose the steadiest-looking tree with the most prominent branches and ascend myself up.

My leg is killing me, but I choose to ignore it and I keep climbing. The Careers finally approach me when I'm at least three metres off the ground. "Where do you think you're going, Rose?" the blonde girl says right below my tree. I remember her, she was the first in the interviews and the second during the evaluation. The girl from District 1 and now a Career, Glimmer.

I am about to shoot a witty comeback to her when suddenly my eyes fall upon the one person I would never think of seeing alongside the Careers. I'm looking directly at the ginger curls I have known my whole life.

"Wren!?" I yell almost falling off of my branch. "That's right Rosy, he's with us now," Cato says standing beside him. Wren doesn't dare look up. He seems sad or even guilty. "Enough of small talk, kill her or I will," says the brunette girl with freckles, "It will be my pleasure," answers Cato and starts climbing up my tree with a sword in his hand.

I don't have time to think about Wren's betrayal. I quickly start climbing higher watching every branch my hand lands upon. I can feel the pain from the blisters forming on my hands caused by the rough climbing. Glimmer and the other Careers cheer Cato up to get me. I can make out the words "Kill her Cato" and "Come on Cato make your district proud".

Cato's movement is quick as he slashes the branches out of his way with his sword to reach me. Suddenly I hear the sound of a branch breaking and for a moment I fear I will fall. Yet, I don't. It's Cato that slips. He falls to the ground with a loud thud. "Oh for goodness sake, I will do it myself," Glimmer says as she loads up her bow. She has the bow! As she aims to shoot, Wren's voice interrupts "It's no use wasting our arrows on her," everyone turns their heads in his direction, myself included.

"She can't stay up there forever. If she does, she will starve to death. She'll have to get down at some point, we can kill her then" he continues.

I can't believe he's the same person I stayed up at night talking to when we were young back in District 8 or even back at the Capitol on the roof. So much for not wanting the Games to change him. He's not the boy I once knew. No, now he has become a murderous monster who wants to eliminate me. I guess the games do change people.