The First Annual Hunger Games (Book 1)

16. Peace, Cannons, and Plans

I jolt up and Roxen flinches. "Are you okay?" he asks me.

I try to slow my breathing. "Yeah, just a bad dream."

He nods. "I can't remember the last normal dream I had." He shifts so he can look at me and the canyon.

"I remember before I had a dream that we won the war. The districts took over and... everyone was happy." I look at the ground. "Thirteen was destroyed two days after that."

"And then it was over."

I bite my lip. "Do you want me to take watch now? I'm wide awake."

"Sure." He stands.

I grab my axe and trade him places. The night is peaceful and the stars are beautiful. I take a deep breath and imagine that I'm camping with a friend and we just happened to stop in the canyon. There's no war, no games, no Capitol. For a moment, just a sliver of a second, there is peace. I soak in it.

The moment is abandoned as I hear footsteps. I sink low to the ground, just able to peer onto the ground below.

"What is it?" Roxen whispers.

"Footsteps, don't move."

Two figures appear from around the corner. I can't tell who the are, a boy and a girl. They have to be part of the pack. They run through the canyon quickly, not even glancing in our direction, and disappear again.

When I'm sure they're gone I look back at Roxen. "A boy and girl, couldn't see their faces, but Juniper is alone so it has to be the pack, right?"

"I guess. There's three people in the pack, though. Why would they leave one person behind?"

I shrug. "Maybe they killed him."

"There wasn't a cannon."

I purse my lips and shrug again. "Beats me."

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow." Roxen lays back down and soon his breathing is even.

No one else passes the rest of the night.

I wake Roxen as the sun comes up and we eat quickly. "We need a good head start if we're going to find anyone."

He nods and we pack up our stuff. We climb down from the cliff and pick the direction that the pair went last night.

We walk till the sun is directly over with our weapons poised for an attack. There's no sign of anyone; no tracks, no smoke from a fire, no noises. Mockingjays sing beautiful melodies and lizards scatter across the rocks.

Suddenly a cannon goes off.

"Juniper?" I ask.

Another goes off.

"Guess not," Roxen says. He continues walking.

"Do you think she could take on the pack?"

"Maybe." He stops. "Either she's dead or she just killed two of them."

I sigh. "I wish we could see what was happening." We decide to stop for lunch and as soon as we sit against the wall another cannon goes off.

"This doesn't make sense," Roxen says. "There's only one left and us." He looks at me. "Remember what I said before?"

"No," I say, and not because I don't remember. "No, Roxen I can't let you do that. The way I see it, if either one of us makes it out it's good, right? It's a win."

"Aldera, there's no winning this. There's no way they're going to let whoever the victor is just go home and live in peace. The capitol will drag it out forever." He looks away. "I don't want that."

"So you're just giving up?" I stand.

"I'll help you win. I'll help you take down whoever it is and then you can kill me or... I'll kill myself."

I turn around, putting my face in my hands. Then I turn back to him. "What if they kill both of us? If it's Juniper and she just killed three people single handedly how are we going to kill her?"

He shakes his head. "We'll just have to make a plan. Any ideas?"

I think for a moment, then smile. "Do you think we can find our way back to the cornucopia?"

Hi everyone, sorry for the really short chapter without a lot of action! We're getting so close to the end and I have it all planned out, but I'm struggling to write it because I've been enjoying this so much that I don't want it to end. Anyway, how'd you like this chapter? Any guesses of what Aldera's plan is or who the other person left is? Let me know your predictions in the comments and please give this chapter a vote if you liked it! Thanks for reading!