When The Canary Sings

Get The Damn Kid!

First person Point of View: Becca Blue: 

* 

"Ladies and Gentleman, let the 75th annual Hunger Games begin!" Cladius Templesmith booms ,and here we go. I have less than a minute to get everything figured out. I squint and look around, but all I see is Ophelia's red blood on my hands. I feel the vile of rat poison around my neck. For emergencies. No one needs to know.

There's a big jungle, but I'm in the water. About forty feet away is the metal cornucopia. Shining and glinting in the white hot sun. There are spokes of land, protruding from the island that the cornucopia is on. I count them. 12. It looks like a clock, I think to myself, but quickly brush it off.

In between each spoke is water and a trio of tributes.

I look around, trying to find someone, anyone. Next to me is the guy from Seven. Not Blight, the other guy. Next to him is some lady from Five. Someone else I don't know, which only gives them more of an incentive to kill me.

As the clock counts down, my mind rushes like the waves around me. Are there mutts in the water? Sharks waiting to tear me limb from limb.

I crane my neck to see Katniss, and I can partially see Peeta. I see them both lurch. I know Katniss is going to go for the cornucopia. I have no clue what Peeta will do. My heart leaps into my throat as everyone around me leans a little closer to the cornucopia. I won't. I can't. That's the equivalent of a lamb willingly walking into a slaughterhouse.

But I do desperately need a weapon...No! I can't.

The countdown clicks, tension and salt in the air.

When the gong sounds, I spin on my heels and jump into the water. I sink down, trying to get a feel for how deep it goes, but I keep sinking and my feet never reach the sandy bottom. Once my lungs start to burn, I swim forwards and up. When my head finally breaks the surface, I look around panickedly. I can hear the commotion at the cornucopia, but I can see people darting into the jungle. I'm about fifty feet away from the cornucopia, and I still have a lot to swim, so I take another deep breath and dive back under.

By diving deep into the water, I'm staying out of others' sight. Only rising when I need a breath just to sink back down again. If someone is really attentive, they might see the small ripples caused by my kicking feet, but with the rushing waves, no one will see me.

Once I feel sand, I rise up only to find that I was so close to the surface. I stand up, the water is lapping around my hips. I try to ignore the clanging of weapons and screaming, and I dart right into the jungle. It's hot and humid and I can barely breathe, but I find a huge tree and scamper up it before anyone can find me. It's relatively close to the shoreline, close enough that I can see the cornucopia. Plus, I'm high enough in the tree so in case anyone comes by, they'll pass right under me without even knowing.

I hug the tree as I perch on top of one of its thick branches. It has dark green leaves, and swirling vines. Lots of bugs, too.

I squint to try and see the cornucopia. I'm facing the tail, so I can't see the mouth. The waves are still rushing, and people are dead. Their red blood leaking into the blue waters. I lick my lips. Salty.

Of course the water is salty! What better torture to be surrounded by water you can't drink!

As I squint, I can faintly make out Finnick with Katniss and Peeta, Mags on his back. They all dart in the opposite direction, completely across the arena from me. Great, fifteen minutes in and I already discarded haymitch's directions.

Despite telling myself I was going to die the past five months, now I am in survival mode. I need to find water, with the humidity and the white hot sun beating on me from every angle even when I'm in the shade, I'll drop from dehydration before anything else.