The Hunger Games

Chapter Twenty-Seven

EDELMIRA'S POV

The wind blows back loose pieces of my hair and presses against my face, forcing me to squint. I stop and put my arms out. Someone smacks into my shoulder. "Stop." I whisper into the darkness, but I'm barely audible.
"What?" Hayden whispers back, leaning close to my eat so I can hear him. My gaze travels in front of me.
"Stop." I say, louder this time. Hayden still doesn't stop. I clench my fist and slam it back against his chest.
"I said stop!" I snap.
"Why?"
"Because, if you weren't paying attention, we were about to fall in the river." I yell over the roaring wind.
"I don't see it," Hayden yells back.
Look at him, the moonlight illuminating his figure. I grab his forearm and drag him after me. I stare as hard as I can ahead of me and I'm able to make out the river, it's current especially rough and strong in the wind. I pull Hayden in front of me and ram my shoulder into his back. He staggers forward. His ankles are submerged by water.
"Now do you see the river?" I yell, stomping in. The icy water sends a chill down my spine. I was cold to start out with, coming from District 11, where it's always hot. Now my teeth chatter uncontrollably. "Now what?" Hayden asks, voice shaking.
"We have to wade across?" He asks, looking at me. I nod.
"But I can't touch. I'll have to swim for some of it." I say. I do not want to get in the river. I'm not getting into this river. But you have to, Mira. Think. If you cross the river, once your out, in just ten minutes you'll be back in the tree, with a big, warm sleeping bag and your jacket. Why didn't I bring my jacket?! I think to myself. I take a deep breath.
"Let's go." I run as fast and as far as I can, Hayden a few feet ahead of me. The water is up to my collar bone. I don't want to be slow, so I kick of the bottom with my feet and start to swim.
I catch up to Hayden, the water is lapping at his chin. "Start to swim, it's faster." I shout over the wind, teeth chattering like crazy. He nods and starts to swim. I feel my boots touch the bottom. I stop swimming and start running. Well, I'm trying to run my cloths are so waterlogged that I'm really just fast walking. A particularly strong gust of wind comes, forming huge waves. My eyes widen. The wave carries me off my feet. I didn't have time to catch my breath and water begins to fill my mouth and nose, and I'm submerged in Black water. I've completely lost my sense if direction. My Fingers graze the bottom. My head spins. I'm not sure which way is up and which way is down. A pair of hands clamps down on my shoulder, and pulls me. My head breaks the surface, and I force my eyes open. So close to the shore. Hayden drags me forward and then drops me. I collapse onto the sandy riverbank, shaking, my cheek buried in corse sand. I cough so hard it racks my body. My throat and nose burn badly...  I look at Hayden. He's on his hands and knees, chest heaving, one of his legs is bleeding, heavily enough that it's soaking through is pants. But why? That doesn't make sense. I force myself to sit up.
"What happened to you le-" I let out a terrible gagging sound and fall to my knees. With my forearms pressed into the sand, I vomit mouthful after mouthful after mouthful of water. When I finally stop, my eyes are rimmed with tears. That is not a pleasant feeling. "What happened to your leg?" I rasp, blinking rapidly to stop the tears. "I'm not sure. Must of cut it on a rock or something."
I look at him. He looks at me.
We both know it's not from a rock.
"Let's just get back to camp," I say, raising my voice. He helps me up and we run into the woods, both wanting to stay away from the water. I don't have to worry about Hayden being loud, you can't hear him in this wind. My body aches. I'm exhausted. I just want to lay down and sleep... My body is jolted backward as Hayden grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me back to him. I open my mouth to yell at him, but he simply covers my mouth with his hand. I glare at him. Hayden points up and I follow his finger. My heart sinks.
Dangling from a thin branch, is a hive. With hundreds of wasps swarming around it. No. There not wasps. To big. To loud. I can hear them over the wind.
Tracker jackers. I swallow. The hive is swinging wildly from it's branch.
"It's going to break..." I breathe, to no one on particular. Why are we standing here, we need to go. We can't stay right under a tracker jacket nest.
"The branch. It's going to break!" I shout, grabbing Hayden. And indeed, the branch breaks. "Run!" I scream.
The nest hits the ground and splits open. Thousands of tracker jackers pour from the hive and fly after us. They're so close the sound of there buzzing is drowning out the roaring of the wind. Hayden's ahead of me. I'm to tired. To small. To slow. My legs can't carry me fast enough. I cry out as the first tracker jacket makes contact with my body, stinging me in the knuckle. Only one sting and the pain is overwhelming me. Tracker jackers die when they sting you, but that doesn't matter. They have the power of numbers. I will be dead before all of them are. Another one stings me. On the arm this time. Then a few get me on my leg. My leg throbs but I keep running. More on my leg. I cry out. Some on my hands. This is how I will die. Genetically modified wasps. Mutts. Tears fill my eyes. Where is Hayden? I can't see him. My vision is flickering, as if it has a switch and someone is flipping it on and off and on and off. He left me. I scream in pain and anger. I kept him alive. If it weren't for me, he would have starved to death. The tracker jackers are stinging through my clothes. My hands are almost completely covered in stings, and I'm almost certain that the same goes for my right leg. Despite the fact that I'm still soaked and it's dark out, I'm no longer cold. I'm sweating. My body throbs, and I feel like my blood is on fire. Tracker jackers are everywhere.
I'm being stung to death.
Five tracker jackers sting me at once, two in the neck, three in the side of the head. I let out a shrill scream that turns into a wail. I'm stung again and again, in the stomach, legs, arms. I scream, cry, swat blindly around me.
That's when the hallucinations start. For a brief moment, everything goes black, and when I regain sight, I look down. I'm still in the arena, but I'm thousands of thousands feet in the air. Im standing on nothing. I clutch my chest. I'm not as afraid of heights, as I am of falling. I don't mind being in trees, because I know I can support myself. I'm breathing heavily and my head pounds. If I fall, I won't be able to save myself. In the way back of my racing mind, I know I'm still on the ground, still running, still being painfully stung by tracker jackers. And then I fall. My chest feels like it is going to explode as I fly to the ground, a screech escapes my mouth, and I collide with the ground. The shock ripples through my spine, and I'm frozen. Then everything blacks out again. I open my eyes, and I see my family. I'm not sure where they come from, but giant, hairy legged spiders with sharp fangs start attacking my family. My little brother and sister, my older brother, my mom. I want to help, but I'm terrified of spiders. I can't move. I need to. But I can't. But I need to. Something snaps inside when one of the spiders lands on my arm. I scream and slam my palm down on it. I run and grab my mother, smashing spiders frantically, but everything I do only seems to hurt her more. The spider start to bite her, and some crawl up my arms. My arms flail and crash into her shoulders. That seems to be effective. I smash my arms against hers, killing spiders. But they're everywhere. And everything I do seems to hurt her more. Her face twists in agony, and she screams. I reel away. Never, have I seen her break down like that, and it's frightening. The spiders, are everywhere. I look back to my mom. Her eyes are wild, and the spiders are completely covering ever upset of her. "No!" I screech, lunging for her. I hit the bare ground. The spider swallowed her. She's gone. I look around. My siblings, they are all being covered, I start yelling frantically, but everything I do only makes things worse. They're flesh all bloody, from numerous, large spider bites, and I'm becoming hysterical. Screaming, I try and help them, but then, I suddenly can't see. I blink. I can see. But I'm running. I can feel every single tracker jacket sting. The hallucination of the giant spiders attacking  me and my family is flashing between reality. Screaming. Running. Crushing. Being stung. I scream. My head throbs. I shake it and stagger, falling to my knees. A tracker jacket stings me above my eye, and I shriek. I push myself up and keep running. The vision of the spiders is gone, but reality is painful. I can feel everything, and I can't control the agonized screeches that are escaping my lips. My blood feels like it's on fire. I know that everybody in the arena can hear me. I'm an easy target. Black begins to dot my vision and I'm stung again in the leg and head. My face is wet with tears, or sweat, I'm not sure which. Probably both. I scream as I'm stung right beneath my jaw. My legs go out from under me and I hit the ground.
I remember that everyone in Panem is watching me die. Including my family. A sob racks my body.
My family. I promised them that I would live. I try and stand up but I just fall back down. I'm weeping hysterically now, my chest against the ground an my head turned to the side so my cheek is pressed against the dirt. My screams and sobs are mixing into one, inhuman sound. I can see almost nothing in the darkness,
but everything is getting darker.
I promised them. I promised my family I would live, or at least try to.
Everything goes black
I think some promises, are meant
To
Be
Broken.