Sea Of Secrets [1]

Twelve

   The sound of the loud crash makes me grab Rue, putting her behind me, as if protecting her from something that hasn't come yet. The supplies are too far away. My sisterly instinct is setting in, and I have to shake my head to remind myself that I'm not home, but in an arena where people want to hurt me.

   "Go find Katniss , Coral! I'll light the last fire and then hide in a tree , try to kill the careers off if they see me" Rue says her words so calmly, like killing doesn't faze her in the slightest. "Go! She might be injured by the blow!" She pushes me forward, picking up another log, and sets it down to light.

   "I can't leave you" urgency is in my voice , I can't leave her alone, she might get hurt, or worse, die.

   "Go!" She yells at me, I break out in a run, praying that Rue will be okay, that she will survive and hide well in the trees.

   As I'm running to the supplies, to Katniss, I see the smoke. The explosion must have caused a fire, and a big one at that. I stop and stare at the smoke, it's rich and black, not grey, black. The smell hits me, and I run forward again, covering my mouth and nose with my sweaty shirt. The wetness helps the smoke from not entering as much. I cough and spew mucous from my throat.

   "Coral" I hear someone croak my name, their voice raspy, drained. "Coral!" This time I search around for the person who the voice belongs to, and see Katniss sprawled out on the floor, bleeding from her ear.

   I crouch down next to her , not wanting anyone to see us right next to the smoldering stack that was once all the careers supplies.

   "I can't move" Katniss whispers, grabbing my arm. "I'm too dizzy"

   "Katniss , I'll drag you to a safe spot, okay?" I quickly scoop her up from her underarms and drag her from her spot, leaving behind a small pool of blood. As I hear shouting I am in more urgency to drag her away from site, it feels like I won't get there, but I do. Not a minute more, the careers storm in, angry and shocked. Cato is rummaging through the burnt things, and burns his hand on a metal that is still hot from the fire. He curses up to the sky, almost like he wants a response. His face is red, and it seems as if smoke is coming out of his ears. He is so mad. Have fun surviving, have fun starving.

   I almost forgot about Katniss, but her whimpering had brought me back to the situation at hand. Her ear is burned, bloodied, and turning black. I bet she can't hear anything from it. I take my water out, and rip another piece off of my shirt. I soak it in water, and gently dab at the severely wounded ear. Katniss is in so my pain that she grabs the earth below her , turning up dirt , grass and weeds.

   I can still hear the careers shouting, and I look back to inspect. Cato is now yelling , and shoving the boy from District Three. The boys seems to be defending himself. He must be the one who set the traps , he is from the District that manufactures cars, and other things used for the Capitol.

   In one swift movement, Catos hands are around the boys head and neck. I can hear the crack echo around the arena as the boy drops to the ground. I have to cover my mouth so I wouldn't scream. His neck is so misplaced that in one more movement, he could have decapitated him. A cannon sounds , and I return my attention to Katniss, the one still alive. Is that how the girl looked when I snapped her neck the first day?

   "There are eight now" I whisper to myself as I finish cleaning her ear. The ear is so damaged , that I have used all of my water, and the piece of my shirt that I ripped is now a crimson red. No trace of the original color remains. I rub some of my ointment on it, and she flinches when I rub at the darkest reds.

   It takes me about two hours to clean it, taking my time to make sure that I cleaned every bit of it throughly. I don't want it to get infected. By the time that it gets dark, I have to put on my night glasses, and the anthem will begin soon.

   Katniss has fallen asleep at the pain, and I wrap my blanket around her, knowing that I gave Rue my sleeping bag. I wonder if she's okay, and I wonder if she will be warm. I hope she is safe. I wrap myself around Katniss, trying to get warm, to warm her, to warm the ground around us. Sleep comes quick that night, and I am grateful.

{~}

   When I wake, my mouth is dry, and Katniss is already up, using some of her water to clean her ear. The sun is up in the sky, and I know that it is either late morning, or early afternoon. The heat radiates on me, making me instantly sweat.

   "We need to hunt , eat, and then find Rue" Katniss places down the cloth, and gives me some berries and nuts to munch on. I offer to get us some fish, and she offers to get us a mockingjay.

   As we hunt, my stomach growls, and screams at me for more food. I have already eaten two fish, and a large amount of berries and nuts. Katniss gave me a mint leaf to chew and suck on, but it does little to nothing to help me, only reminding me of home.

   I stand at the bottom of a tree as Katniss aims and shoots down a mockingjay. The feathers are beautiful, and I almost feel bad for eating it, but my hunger is more important then feeling bad about a beautiful bird that we are going to skin, and eat.

   I help her set up the small fire, and I watch her cook it. The smell is amazing, and makes my stomach scream. As she hands me a leg , I hungrily scarf it down, not bothering to stop and breathe.

   Katniss laughs at me as grease drips down my chin. "It looks like you might have a hollow day"

   I look at her curiously. "What does that mean?"

   "It means, that whatever you put in your stomach, you are still hungry and ready for more food. It's just a term we use in my District"

   "It's kind of like President Snows been hollow in his heart sense the day he was born. There's nothing there, just a black mass, almost like a growth" we both laugh and clear the fire away, making sure to distinguish it before we head to find Rue.

   As we head to the second camp fire Rue set, it's like the fire only had a few seconds to burn. There was barely any ashes on the wood, and most of it still looked useable.

   "What the.." My eyes spot a brown object lying next to the fire. I gasp as I bring it to my face, showing it to Katniss.

   "Her slingshot" she looks at me with confusion, and then it must have clicked in her mind because her next words are already clear to me. "She's in trouble" I quickly put the slingshot in my backpack, tucking it away for her to use again.

   A high pitched scream made the trees stand still, sending birds flying away from the sound. I take off running towards it, only for my footsteps to be pounding to the sound of more screams.

   As we run, we enter a clear area where rue is captured in the air, she has been caught in a netting trap. The boy from District One is throwing spears, and I watch in slow motion a one pierces through her small , frail body.

   Just before he can throw another spear, I give him a taste of his own medicine. I take out my knife, and shoot it right into the side of his head. Blood pools out, and then the sound of the cannon erupts around us. Seven are now left.

   I turn to Rue who is now on the ground, tears streaming out of her beautiful eyes. Tears start to fall from mine, knowing that there will be one more cannon sound to come.