The Hunger Games-One Direction Edition

Chapter Five

Lauren’s Point of View

We are required to keep standing on the metal circle plates for sixty seconds, or the mines will have no problem ending our stay in the Hunger Games. I look around and I see the Cornucopia shining like gold, the shape resembling a cone with a curved tail. Items pour from it, but they decrease in value the farther away they are away from the Cornucopia. For example, two feet from my left foot is a small square of plastic, but twenty feet in front of me lays a loaf of bread. The tributes are all an equal distance from the Cornucopia and from each other. To my left lies a forest, to my right is a sudden drop-off, like a cliff; in front of me is the Cornucopia, but behind that sits a beach and a lake. Something gleams and I catch sight of a silver bow and a sheath of what looks to be about two dozen arrows sitting next to it on top of the pile of items stacked in the Cornucopia. That’s mine, no matter what Adrienne said; I am built to run, so I will.

I catch sight of Niall looking at me, and he is shaking his head as if to discourage my thoughts. I frown and the gong sounds, catching me off guard and ruining my chances of getting that bow. I curse Niall and scramble to get the square of plastic to my left, the loaf of bread in front of me and a black backpack ten feet away from the bread. I had just grabbed the bag when a boy, I think from District 8, tries to yank it from my grasp. He coughs and blood splatters my face as he slides to the ground with a knife in his back. I take the bag and the knife, the source coming from the girl from District 2, and I know she never misses as I sprint towards the forest. I hike my bag up around my head and neck, and a solid thud follows less than two seconds after. I grin as I disappear into the woods, not stopping to glance back. I kept running for the next two or three hours, and when I couldn’t run, I walked. I stopped and finally checked the contents of the backpack, relieved that I could rest for a while. The small backpack contained a black sleeping bag made of the same material as my jacket, a half-gallon water container that was empty, a bottle of iodine drops, two packages of dried beef, a package of dried fruit, a small box of crackers that fit into my palm stretched wide, and an odd pair of glasses that when I put on made the light look broken, so I took them off.

I kneel by the small stream twenty feet away from me and fill it with water, putting iodine drops in it so I wouldn’t be sickened or poisoned by the unknown chemicals in the water. I pause and listen to the cannon shots, each one representing the amount of people dead. Six dead on the first day so far, which is a small amount of casualties from the bloodbath. A rustling to my right sends me into a defensive position with two knives I had gotten so far. Rich brown eyes peer around the large pine tree in front of me, and I recognize Heather from District 11. She looked to be around fourteen years old with her slim build. Something caught my eye and I fought back an angry cry when I saw the bow and arrows in her hands, but she looked terrified and I relaxed. She took a careful step towards me as I lowered my hands to put away the knives, and I smiled as the thought to enlist her as an ally popped into my mind, and I could tell she wanted to.

“You know, it’s not only Careers that can form alliances,” I reply softly, and a smile plays on her lips as she thinks about the thought.

“You’d want to be allies?” she asks, taking another hesitant step towards me. “With me?”

I nodded. “Of course! After all, you did score a nine, and for your size that is quite a feat not to be taken lightly!” I encourage, extending a hand to her in friendship. She hesitated and then closed the gap between us to shake my hand. She smiles as she sits down next to me as she watches me put away the water container.

“Whoa, where did you get those?” she suddenly pipes up, pointing to the glasses.“Those are night-vision goggles!”

I look at them curiously. “That explains why the light looked weird when I tried them on,” I mumble before I glance at her bow. She sees me staring at it and she pauses before she takes it off of her back and hands it to me.