promises • cato the hunger games

Sixteen

I open my eyes sleepily. It's not as dark now, it must be nearly morning. I've survived the first night. The hissing noise seems to be coming from above me. I don't recognise the noise, so I tilt my head up.

I almost die of fright. There's a huge snake wrapped around the branch directly above my head, probably about a meter away, hissing manically, with an evil glint in its red eyes. I've never seen a snake, but know straight away that this is no ordinary one. It's a Capitol mutt.

I frantically start unknotting my rope. I need to get away. Now.

I throw the rope into the bag and fling it over my shoulder, before trying to climb down the tree as fast as I can. I look up, to see the snake is somehow making it's way down. I panic, and start to climb faster.

I stupidly grab onto a thin branch, which snaps, meaning I fall the last three meters, landing on he ground with a thud. The wind's knocked out of me, and I hit my head, so I lie there in the dirt, watching the snake dangling over me, willing it not to come down.

However, it ignores my telepathic pleas, and falls onto me. I'm too scared to even scream. At first instinct, I push it away. This was clearly, a big mistake, as it hisses furiously and strikes.

I feel a burning, stinging pain in my right arm as it's fangs pierce me, like someone stabbing me with two, burning hot needles.

I shut my eyes tight to stop myself bursting into tears. When I open them again, I see the snake slithering away. What? Is that it?

Wait a second. I get it. It's obviously a poisonous snake. The gamemakers probably want to give a good show; in other words, a slow, painful death, not instant murder, that's over in seconds. I guess that would be no fun for the Capitol.

I feel fine now, so the venom must be slowly affective. I'll probably get sicker and sicker, until I die. I don't know how long that's going to take, but I can imagine it'll be as painful as ever. I might have as little as three days, or as long as three weeks. There's no way of telling. I have absolutely no knowledge of snakes.

I stand up shakily and gently peel back my sleeve, revealing too tiny holes, about two centimeters apart from each other, oozing a few drops of blood.

I gasp (even though it was what I was expecting) and pull my sleeve down. The bite is stinging, and throbbing too.

I don't know what to do. If I leave it, I'll die. So how do I treat it? I have little chance of getting sponsors. I know who's not short of sponsors - Cato. He also probably has a load of medicines he found in the Cornucopia.

I could try and find him, but then I risk Glimmer and Marvel killing me before the snake bite does. But Cato would stop them, hopefully.

Anyway, I know one thing, I can't stay here. I sling my bag over my good arm and start to walk in the direction the career pack did. I have no idea where I'm going, I'm just wandering about.

It's fully light by now, so at least I can see everything clearly. There's no one around as far as I can see, so I push on.

~

I've been stumbling around for days now, sleeping in a new tree every night. It turns out the arena was way bigger than I thought. Needless to say, I haven't found him yet.

My bite hasn't swollen or anything, but I'm definitely feeling it's effects now. I'm hot and cold, my head hurts, my body feels weakened, and I'm starting to feel sick and dizzy. I'm constantly thirsty, but I've only got a few dregs of water left. I need to find Cato soon.

Also, I'm starting to get scared I'm just walking around in circles. I'm sure I've seen the same bush for three days now.

I'm about to fling my bag down and have a rest, when I hear an ear piercing scream, followed shortly by a cannon, making me jump. As awful as what's obviously just happened, I'm filled with hope. There's a good chance the career pack is near.

I stand back up and wander in the general direction of the scream. I get closer and closer until I find the body of, oh my god, no.

It's Rose.

I go light headed. I feel so guilty. What if Cato killed her? My eyes fill with tears.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper, before turning and walking away quickly. I don't want to look anymore.

My weak knees give way and I collapse onto the floor. I prop myself up on a tree, and try to stop crying. I hear the hovercraft take her away.

I hear someone coming up from behind me. I try to stand up but fail, my legs just won't do it. Pain's shooting all through my body now, and I'm burning. My head's spinning, and I can see black dots. Maybe it's best to let myself be killed; the pain's too much now.

I curl up into a ball, praying. I know everyone's basically given up on God by now, but I'm desperate. I might as well give it a try.

Please, God. Please let my Rose be okay. Please let her be adopted or something, to a rich family who can look after her better than I could. Please, don't make her have to go into the Games.

Someone suddenly grabs me. I curl up into a tighter ball.

"Penny? What are you doing? What happened?" says Cato frantically. I look up, but my vision's blurry.

"Cato, there was a snake," I manage to whisper, before blacking out.