The Games

23.

I ran towards the three people in front of me. I first ran to Janessa, and pulled out a knife from my pocket, and ripped the rope with it.

"Go get Caleb, and hurry!" I told Janessa.

She walked to Caleb holding her hand on her stomach. I walked to Jade and did the same thing I did with Janessa. I met up with Janessa and Caleb, and we walked straight forward into the forest. We all made it, and we stood there.

"Janessa are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah... I'm good," She said.

"Holy shit... I thought you were dead," I said.

Behind us I heard footsteps. I looked back around, and saw Mr. Cowles. He was our AVID teacher for 6 period. He was wearing a blue shirt, with khaki pants. He was a white guy who was bald, and had ear piercing on both ears. He was also a bit chubby.

"Mr. Cowles, what are you doing here?" Caleb asked.

"You guys... I'm so sorry," He says.

"What are you talking about?!" I asked.

"It's me... I'm the Gamemaker," He says.

I stood there looking at him, not believing anything he said. He couldn't be...

"So, you were the one who helped that bitch!???" Janessa asked.

"Yes, and I'm sorry... Look, I was forced to do it..." He says.

"So what if she forced you... You did it anyway!!! Half of the people who were in the Games were your own students!!! And you took their lives," I said.

"I had no other choice..." He explained.

It was silence, but I was still able to hear the commotion in the buildings.

"Why did you do this?" I asked.

"What?" He asked.

"I said, why did you do this!??" I asked.

"A test... It was a test to test your abilities," He says.

Janessa had the feeling to slap him across the face, and she did. It left a red mark on his face.

"You just wanted to save yourself..." Jade says.

"Remmi, Josh, Lee-Lee, Daryl... Gianna, Kaylani, Ian, Marco, Anaja, Joselyn, Alondra, Jordan, Janiza... Amy. What do those names mean to you?" Caleb asks.

"Innocents... The victims you've caused to die!!! All for a god damn test!!!?" I asked.

"They were all depending on you, but now they see who you really are..." Janessa says.

They all kept on giving Mr. Cowles a lecture. While Jade tapped on my arm, and she pointed at a tree with her eyes. I looked up, and saw a some sort of bee-hive.

"Tracker Jackers," She whispers.

She comes closer to me and whispers in my ear.

"Caleb's hours are almost up," She says.

I looked back at them, and still arguing with him.

"Ready?" I asked.

She nodded back at my question. I handed her my bow, and she held it. She waited for the perfect time. I nodded my head back at her. She then hits the hive with the bow and it falls onto the floor, and the insects come out and chase us. We all ran in the pattern I went. Forward, left, right, and forward. We all ran faster than Mr. Cowles did. He was following behind us. While he was shouting out words at us.

"TRACKER JACKERS IS HOUR EIGHT. EVERYBODY LOOK OUT FOR THE NINTH HOUR... FORCE FIELD," Caleb yelled.

We all stopped at the area where the trees formed a circle.

"HOUR NINE!!!" Jade yelled.

Caleb grabbed everyone and we huddled in a certain area, while Mr. Cowles was now entering the circle. I look at Mr. Cowles as he was stuck in a force field. The force field kept him from moving. And we weren't too close to where he was, and not in a force field. We all looked at Mr. Cowles not pounding on the field, but he had purple stings all over him.

"Hour Ten," Caleb says.

I kept looking at Mr. Cowles where not only was he trapped in a force field, but a bunch of  black birds started to fly in a circle, in the force field. I could hear Mr. Cowles shouting in the field as the birds had the screams if the dead tributes. They were all flying all over the place. We all sat down in the circle in front of him, watching him suffer.

"Birds, Caleb?" Janessa asked.

"They're called Jabberjays," Jade says.

"I know, I know... Just wait for it," Caleb says.

Then Mr. Cowles is shouting more and more, as he finally covers his ears, and blood starts to bleed from his ears.

"Oh god..." Janessa says.

"Let it be..." I said.

Then Mr. Cowles starts to stop his screaming and collapses on the floor, with his face facing the ground. He was dead.