The Quater Quell: 50th Hunger Games

Chapter 20

       "Hey Raven, who did you see last night in the sky anyway?" Dean asks me. "Not Apollo or Demetria." I respond. Or Haymitch. I silently think to myself. "Just three more faces." I shrug off. We hike for a few minutes when Larten screams "Ow! What the hell Dean!" 

"What are you talking about?" Dean questions. 

"Yeah, right, like you don't know! You threw a rock at my head!"

 "I did not!" 

"Oh really, then who did?"

      Something hits me hard on my forehead. I stumble and almost fall back but Dean catches me. "Look! Up in the trees!" Dean points and my eyes follow. They were obviously some type of mutts made by the game makers. They were crossed between a squirrel and a monkey. They had small bodies and large arms. They walked around on their knuckles and swung through the trees. They had two sharp fangs and their tails looked razor sharp.

       "What the-" Larten started but was hit in the head with a larger rock. Larten goes limp and falls to the forests floor. "Run!" Dean shouts to me and grabs my hand. "We can't just leave him here. They'll kill him!" "And? Let's go!" Dean grabs my wrist and tugs me away from the killer hybrids and away from Lartens unconscious body. Some monkeys leap down from the trees and circle him while the others chase us. I hear a cannon boom in the distance and I try not to cry. I know that he was a jerk, but he was still from home.

        The monkeys are on our tail and reach out to grab our ankles. Dean shoots the ones closest to us down but the other monkeys quickly fill in to replace him. 

        A mutt manages to wrap its long bony fingers around my foot and yanks me to the ground. 

    "Dean!" I scream. Please don't leave me. Dean turns around and whacks a few mutts off of me who were tearing at my hair and clothes. I feel a sharp pain dig down onto the back of my calf. I turn my head and see on has bitten into my leg and appears to be sucking my blood. I cry out in pain. Dean knocks the beast off of me and the mutt takes a chunk of my leg with him.

          For some reason, the monkeys seem to retreat after that and disperse back into the thicket. "Dean, I don't think I can walk that good. Do you mind helping me up?" I moan. Dean picks me up and I use his body as a crutch. 

       He helps me to hobble as we finish our trek to the Cornucopia. I fall to the ground and grit my teeth. I don't want to cry, any sponsor will see that as weakness. I take a close look at my calf and gasp. I have a hole the size of a middle finger. You can see just a hint of bone and it is gushing blood. I feel woozy and can feel myself growing pale.

       I have always been great with blood. Harvesting animals is no issue with me. I am great with blood as long as it is not mine. I feel dizzy and lean against the tree behind me.

  Dean rips thin slices of his dirty shirt, and pulls the threads apart. He picks up a dart from his quiver and spits on it. 

"What are you doing?" I say, out of breath.

"Rave, you need stitches. Hell, you need a lot more then stitches right now. I'm going to sow you up."

"Are you nuts!!!!!" Those darts are poisonous. They could kill me!"

"I'm going to sterilize them. Well i'm gonna try too. If I don't stitch you up, then you'll die for sure from blood poison or of an infection or something. At least this way you have a chance."

 "Fine." I sigh. 

Dean finishes sterilizing the dart by submerging it in a small fire he builds.

Without any anesthetic, I clench my teeth and Dean begins.

                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       Mist covers the arenas field around the Cornucopia. When it clears, a whole table is prepared for us. It was literally a feast. A vast array of food was scattered on a long dining table. The table had 24 tables surrounding it. One for each of us. And an empty one for Larten. Each chair has pack with our number on it. Did they really expect us to all sit around and eat together?

         Dean tied a tourniquet around my leg to stop the bleeding and gave me his dart gun. He got into a position to run and we waited. A small girl, from 5 I believe, dashed to grabbed her bag and a muffin and fled. Apollo leaped from inside the cornucopia and tossed a cast net on top of her. 

    She cried out in fear but it was too late. Apollo, Demetria and the other Careers had surrounded the girl and took turns stabbing her with their axes and swords, while others began beating her with their maces and clubs. It was horrifying. Blood surrounded the now unrecognizable girl. They laughed and all sat around the feast at the table.

          "WHO WILL JOIN US!" taunted Apollo. He knew that we were all out here, hiding. He was excited for the bloodbath that was about to unfold. The blonde career named Demetria giggled and stroked Apollos arm. "No one's coming. Not after what we showed them what we will happen!" She through her head back and crackled. The careers began to feast on the food and drink while digging through everyone's packs.

        "I cant take this anymore, Dean! Enough is enough!" I stood and limped out of the woods that concealed my location. "Looks like we have a taker ladies and gentlemen!" hooted a career. Demetria smirked at me and spun her axe in her hand as she stood from the table. 

       "Wait." Apollo said as he held out his hand. 

    "First, let her eat with us." They all gave him a confused look but put down their weapons and went back to the dining table. Demetria spit on the ground as I walked up and finally retreated back to the table. Dean followed behind me.

          "Ah. Not so fast." Apollo said while holding his sword at a threatening manner. "Just her." I looked back at Dean and glanced down to the dart gun he was holding. He gave me a little nod and walked back to the edge of the clearing."