The Tribute and the Victor

Chapter 15

When I woke up I soon realised that my surroundings had totally changed..I was no longer in the middle of the hot and dry desert, I was laid next to a tiny oasis surrounded by a few small trees. I was still laying on sand, so I was defiantly still somewhere in the desert, but how had I got there? Suddenly, without warning I felt a strong force pile on top of me. It was Raven. The boy from district 5. He still looked pretty much the same as he did before the arena except from a small cut he had at the top of his eyebrow. I suddenly felt the blade of the knife push up against my throat. This was it. The end. I had no way of pushing him off me, so I just laid there waiting for my slaughter. "Did you form an alliance with Calix?" He yelled in my face. I said nothing. "Did you?!" He shouted. I felt the knife press further against my throat. "Yes...yes!" I screamed. "Well listen here..make one wrong move or any sign of you turning on us..And I slit your throat...got it?!" He hissed. "I understand!" I yelled as I tried to push him off me. Suddenly I heard another voice yelling. It was Calix. "Raven! Stop! What are you doing?!" He screamed. "I told you she's a part of our alliance!" He yelled as he came running frantically towards us. "Yes I know what you said! I found her in the desert half dead! If it weren't for me then she wouldn't be here now!" Raven hissed as he stepped away from me. "Sorry about that Darcy, are you alright?" Calix asked as he pulled me to my feet and brushed me down. "I'm fine" I said as I scowled at Raven. "I told Raven that if he found you he wasn't to kill you" I said as he glared at Raven. "I wasn't going to kill her! I was just making sure that she wasn't going to turn on us" he hissed back at him. Just then I saw Zander come running towards us. "What's going on?" He asked as he approached us panting. "Raven tried to kill me" I said before anyone else could get a word in. "Believe me, if I was trying to kill you. I would have done it by now" raven said sarcastically."Come and sit down Darcy" Calix said as he perched himself beside the small oasis. I noticed the bow and arrows that were at the cornucopia sat beside him. I knew he would get them. "Ravens the new member of our alliance" Calix said quietly. "I gathered that" I whispered back sharply. "I know he's not the friendliest of people, but he practically saved me and Zander from the girl from district 1 so we kind of owed him" he explained. "So you invited him into our alliance?" I asked. "Well he kind of invited himself in to be honest, I'm not sure why though, he was offered a place in the careers alliance but he didn't take it. Plus we could hardly say no to him as he did save our lives, and he got that 11 from the gamemakers so he must be pretty good" He sighed. "He's kind of made himself the leader of our alliance now" I suddenly realised that we were missing someone. "Where's Nerissa?" I questioned. Calix hesitated and looked at Zander that clearly seemed upset at the question I had just asked. "She..." But before he could finish Zander finished his sentence. "She died in the bloodbath at the cornucopia" he said nearly in tears."Oh...I'm sorry" I said quietly. Realising that things had just got serious. "But we can't just sit here and mourn over her. 14 tributes are dead already...we need to start moving again soon" Raven said as if he didn't even care about Nerissa. Fourteen dead already? I thought. "How many days has it been?" I asked. "Only one" Calix said as he stood up and grabbed his bow. "So who does that leave?" I asked. "Me, you, Calix, Raven, Axe, Chalice, Hemlock, both tributes from district 2, and the girl from district 4" Zander suddenly said. "Right" I said standing up and grabbing my bag full of spears. "So what weapons do we have?" I asked Calix, trying to totally block out Raven as I decided that i didn't like him. "I have my bow, you have your spears, Raven has his knives and Zander has a small dagger." Calix informed me. "And how are we for food and water?" I asked. "We all now have a filled water bottle each. You have a bag of nuts and raisins and Raven has 5 small loaves of bread and that's it." He said. "We need to move now" Raven pushed on. And with that, we packed up our things and set off.