The New Games: A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 5: Talon

Chapter 5:

"We're in the outskirts of the districts. Close enough to say that we are in district 12. Technically, we aren't in any district at all."

"What?" I ask.

He laughs a little. "I know it's a little confusing."

"Yea I guess." I say.

He looks down at my leg and then up at my forehead.

"Here." He says as he gets up and carries me to the bed on the other side of the room.

He goes into a closet and grabs a case and a lantern. He sets the case over on the floor by the bed. Then he takes the lantern and puts it on a shelf by the bed and turns it on. It's so bright it lights up almost the whole house.

"I thought you couldn't get electricity." I say.

"I was able to get this from the market." He says smiling.

He opens up the case and sets it on the bed. I sit up and see that the case is a first aid kit. A big first aid kit. Bandages, medicine, anything you could think of.

He starts to clean up some blood on my face. He asks me to take my jacket off, and I do, and he starts cleaning the small cuts on my arms and shoulders too. He cleans my legs and wraps up the deeper cuts with bandages.

He takes a small jar and opens it. There is this clear jell-like substance in it. He takes a little out with his figures and moves them toward my head. I flinch away.

"Don't worry," he says. "It's just healing cream."

I let him put it on the cut on my forehead. I feel cooling instantly. The pain is nearly gone and my head has stopped throbbing. This has to be from the Capitol, there's no way this could be sold in the market.

"Where did you get this?" I ask him.

"I told you," he says, putting some of the things back into the case. "I got them from the market."

"No you didn't." I say. "There is no way you got it there."

"You're smart." he smiles. "I got it from the Capitol."

"How?" I ask.

"I know a few people." he says, taking more things out of the case.

"Oh." I say

"Yep." he says.

He starts treating my knee, putting healing creams on it and other things I have no clue what they do.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask.

He stops what he's doing, looks up a little bit, then goes back to my knee.

"You needed help." he replies

"Cause you tackled me!" I say.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Then why did you?" I ask

"You needed help." he says again.

"With what?"

"You were lost." he says.

"No I wasn't." I say, lying.

"Yes you were." he says.

I don't say anything.

"Who's Miya?" he asks.

"Who?"

"Miya. You were calling her name. Who is she?" he says

"My sister." I reply

"What were you doing here? Looking for her?" he asks.

I explain to him everything. From when I walked out the door this morning to when he tackled me.

"Oh." He says, finishing wrapping my knee.

"Yea." I say. "Do you live here?"

"Yep." He says "Have for a while now."

Then he tells me his story.

He used to live in district 12, in the town. His dad and his older brother came here to the pond and went fishing, swam and taught him how to hunt. They built this house over time. Planing on making it bigger, but this was all the time they had. A sickness was going around, I remember my older brother caught it, but it hit especially hard in the town. He didn't get sick, but his parents did. Later that summer they both died. He was about 8 or 9 years old.

He and his brother went to live with their grandfather until he passed. Talon was about 13 when that happened.

By district 12 law, he and his brother had to go to the Capitol and find someone to live with there until they were 15, then they could go to any district they would like and find a place to live there. His brother, when he turned 15, moved to district 2. Talon moved back to district 12.

The family he stayed with in the Capitol were very nice, they gave him anything he needed to be able to live here. Once a year they even send him things. He picks them up at the market. That's where he got the first aid kit and the lantern.

He's now 16 and has been living in this house for about a year, with just himself.

He explained why he tackled me and had the knife.

He knew I was lost and he was going to help me, he saw someone coming so he had to get me out of there. I was running so he tackled me. He took out the knife so that if someone came he could defend us. He covered my mouth because he didn't want anyone to hear us.

He carried me because he knew I couldn't walk and we needed to get to shelter, it was getting late.

His house is located beyond the fence if you come from town or take a path, not a lot of people go beyond the fence, so it's safe here.

"You should get to bed." He says. "You can sleep here."

"Where are you going to sleep?" I ask.

He stands up. "Couch."

He puts the case back into the closet and brings out some blankets. He gives one to me, puts one on the floor, and takes the other one with him to the couch.

"If you need anything, just wake me up." He says

"Okay." I say, as I put the blanket over me. "Thank you."

"No problem." He says

He lays down on the couch and I turn around and go to bed. I try not to think of my mother and how she's reacting to me being gone.