Safe and Sound (The Hunger Games)

Chapter 18-Allies

The cornucopia. Made by the Capitol, it can provide anything from food, weapons, and now shelter from the rain. There are nine of us left, which means seven will be waiting for Crystal and I. Three are our allies.

I run with every step I take in pain. Up ahead I see golden metal. The cornucopia! With my skin still sizzling, I make my way to the perimeter of the area of the cornucopia, but still hidden in sight. Someone grabs me from behind, and Crystal drops to the ground. I can't fight while holding Crystal, that would get us both killed...

"Let go of me!" I scream. Someone has me in a headlock, and I can't escape. My attacker tackles me to the ground and draws a sword. I can tell he is also in pain from the rain. He is right above me, sword in hand. I shut my eyes tightly, and prepare for the pain to take over.

"Where is your little boyfriend?" He asks.

"W-what..." I say. I heard him, but why won't he kill me?

"I said," he starts saying with an angry tone. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"I-I don't know! I haven't seen him since yesterday!" I surrender.

"He killed my ally, Savannah." He says sadly, looking away from me. "But," he looks back at me again, with a harsh tone. "Now, now I get to kill his ally. No, his girlfriend." He has a sick smile on his face.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't with him! It's not my fault!" I plead.

"No, it's not. But you have to pay for his actions." He says. I have tears streaming down my face, but no sobs escape. "Lets get started, I want him to hear you cry in pain when I kill you slowly." I shut my eyes, thinking about my family. How they will miss me, but move on, not right away but eventually. He makes the first cut on my cheek, which is still sore from my first attack. The rain droplets fall on it, making it even worse. I scream in pain, only to remember that that's what the boy wants. I grit my teeth instead, and clench my fists.

"Go on! Call for him!" The boy shouts over the rain. I refuse, staring into his dark eyes. "Oh, don't want to talk? How about now?" He says as he slices the sword across my thigh. I shut my eyes and cry out with pain. My hands want to move to the wound, but his knees are on my wrists. My hands start feeling tingly. Either I am loosing too much blood, or it isn't circulating to my hands.

I open my eyes to blurry vision, but something catches my eye. Someone stands behind him with a knife. I smile weakly, and he looks confused. The person behind him pushes him off of me, and finishes him off. Boom!

"Crystal." I say weakly. She offers me her hand, and we make our way to the cornucopia. No one stands inside, which seems odd, but I am too weak to question it. We search through the crates to find anything useful. "How did you wake up..."

"I felt something, well someone kick me. It was the attacker's foot, you were only a foot or two away, so while you two were squirming, he kicked me in the chest by accident. It took me a moment to collect myself, but when I saw you, I knew what I had to do." She explains.

"Oh." Is all I can say. "Do you remember the tree and your cut?" I ask her as I pass her a bandage. She nods.

"How did I end up on the ground? And what is this rain?" She asks me. I explain to her my reaction to the rain, and then me dropping her as I fell into a fight. "So the rain must be some type of acid." She suggests.

"That's what I was guessing. Oh yeah, I forgot," I take the water bottle that I filled with what I thought was neutral rain water, which was instead anything but that, and throw it out in the rain.

We both take a bag and fill it with necessities like food, clean water, and a jacket, because now both of our bags are long gone. I grab a few spears, and she takes several knives.

We sit under the cornucopia for several minutes in silence until she speaks up. "Did you see them?" She asks me with a tear. I nod no.

"Two cannons fired. One was the boy you killed, and another...well...could be anyone." I say exhaustedly. "Here, go to sleep, I'll wake you if I need you."

"No, no you should have this one. I slept, kind of, when I passed out." She giggles. I giggle also, and accept her offer.

~

"Kaya! Lets go!"

"Where?" I ask.

"To the beach!"

"But Brent, it's too cold outside."

"It's the hottest day of the year!" Brent says excitedly.

"That's not what I meant-"

"Hi." Elliot says behind me. He hugs me, and I hug him back. "It's so nice to be back in district four again. Want to go swimming?"

"That's what I've been trying to get her to do, so it's two against one!" Brent says.

"Make that three against one." Jasmine says as she holds my hand.

"But...but it's too cold outside..." I says softly. No one listens to me, and we all run to the beach.

"Hello Miss. Walson." Someone says. It wasn't physically cold outside, but here we are with President Snow standing feet away from the four of us on the secret beach spot.

Peacekeepers grab the three of them and leave me alone with Snow. I start screaming for them to come back, but he stands there silent. Everything went silent. He takes out a white rose from his jacket and gives it to me. I prick my finger on one of the thorns. He guides my pricked finger to touch the gentle white petals of the rose, now stained with fresh red blood.

~

"Are you okay?" A voice asks me. Crystal. I sit up and hug her tightly. "It looked like you were having a bad dream or something."

"Yeah, but I'm okay now." I say catching my breath. "You can sleep now. I'm fine."

"Okay." She nods her head and closes her eyes. Eight of us are left.