Glimmer's Story

Chapter 6 - Tribute Hunting

I wake to someone shaking my shoulder. It's Cato.

"Get up, Glimmer!" he says. "We are all waiting for you!"

I sit upright and remember that we are going tribute hunting tonight! I suddenly get excited.

"Grab some stuff and put it in here" he tells me, handing me a small pack. "You don't need much. Just some water, food maybe, night vision goggles, your bow and arrows and maybe a knife, just in case of an emergency."

I grab all the stuff he tells me and shove them in the bag. I have a bit of extra room so I shove the first aid kit in my big travel pack in too before walking out the mouth of the cornucopia to meet the others. Peeta looks tired and I begin to wonder if Clove ever got her shift. For some reason, I doubt she did.

"Let's go!" I say, excited. I can't wait!

We all walk into the forest. Well, except for me. I try to walk calmly but I can't stop myself from skipping in delight. Childish, I know. Cato will probably think I'm stupid or something!

"Shhhh!!" Clove says to me. "Your skipping will scare off all the tributes! They will hear you coming!"

Oooops. Forgot about that. Hopefully they will think that it was just a deer or something. I stop skipping.

We have been walking for hours and are starting to think about heading back when I see flames up ahead. "Guys!" I whisper. "Over there." I point in the direction of the flames.

"Nice spotting, Glimmer!" Cato whispers. He thinks I did a great job! Yay! "Let's go make another kill!"

We all creep over and spread out around the fire, as we practiced. The only one who doesn’t know what to do is Peeta so I tell him to stick with Marvel.

I come out of the bushes behind the girl. "You cold?" I ask her sweetly and motion for the others to come out and grab hold of her before she can run away

She turns towards me and smiles. "Yeah." She says. Then she sees who I am.

"HELP!!" she screams as the others grab hold of her. "No!" she shouts "Don't hurt me! I never did anything to you!"

"Shut up." I say but she keeps screaming.

"Listen!" I shout and she falls silent. "You have a choice. We can kill you quickly now or leave you for a slow and painful death which the gamemakers will give you if nothing happens." I smile.

"Do it then." she says and looks away as Clove slits her throat with one of her knives.

"Twelve down and eleven to go!" Cato says. No point whispering now seeing as all the tributes nearby have probably fled or hidden. I wouldn’t have stayed around after all that screaming. We all hoot in appretiation. Well, except for Peeta. He hasn’t done anything on this hunt but follow and watch. He didn’t even help with the girl! I should talk to him when we get back to camp.

We quickly check the girl for supplies but don't find anything interesting so we just leave it all there with her. Except her jacket. I take her jacket as a spare in case I lose mine. I tend to lose jackets very easily back home.

"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking," Cato says and we murmur assent.

We all walk out of the little clearing under a clump of willow trees but stop about 10 meters away.

"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" I ask.

"I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately," Clove replies.

"Unless she isn't dead." Marvel points out. Since when was he so smart?

"She's dead. I stuck her myself!" Cato says, his voice rising with anger.