The Eleventh Hunger Games~ A Mags Fanfic

Chapter Seventeen: Day Eleven

~Let's just take a moment to enjoy this oddly aesthetic picture of an apparent rotting log.~

Hellooo, fellow readers! I will try to make this short. (Also, I didn't quite edit this chapter so apologies ahead of time.) I know these are rather recycled words, but once again thank you for all of the generous votes, comments, and reads; they truly do make my day :) . If any of you have your own stories you would like to share, I would love to read them! Only a few chapters left!! And once again, I was going to say something else, hmm....Enjoy! Kindest regards, Ninjafranbow

Chapter Seventeen

Day Eleven

"Arrrghhhh!" Ben claws at the dark lumps attached to his skin, scrambling out of the water.

"Ben stop you'll only get the suckers stuck there! Here," I show him my arm and gently scrape my fingernail beneath the leech, releasing it back into the murky water. Although there were only a handful latched onto our arms and necks, by the time we have finally finished blood runs down our arms.

"I don't understand..." Ben says, wiping impatiently at the blood and watching as the minuscule wounds only arise more. A memory flashes across my mind of one of my teachers back in District Four.

"Leeches...they have this sort of...anti-coagulant that prevents the blood from clotting. We need something...something sticky to clot the blood..." I trail off, skimming the swampy terrain.

"Yes, let me just go get my glue." Ben mutters, scratching at his bites. "...What are you doing?" I run my fingers along the surface of a spindly tree, resting on a part where the bark is slightly peeled away. I dig my fingernails into the rough surface and begin pulling it away. Bile rises up my throat, making me scramble back. There is not sap that I was hoping for beneath the bark. There are beetles, the same nauseatingly large black and yellow beetles that attacked us burrowed up and down amidst the wood. "So that's where they came from..." Ben said with revulsion. We careen away from the infestation and eventually gather enough sap for the wounds. Before long we are trekking through the mud once more, though straying far from the water.

.......

We hear them before we see them.

I suck in a breath and pull Ben behind a rotten log. I crouch tightly behind the wood, my vision obscured by the log. They slosh down the river, a tribute's voice growing louder as they make their way upstream. Beside me Ben stiffens. His hand grips his knife until his knuckles turn pearl. "...you should have seen her," the tribute cackles. "Looked like she fell flat on her face or something; it was all purple and swollen."

"District Eight?" A second tribute questions in a rather high-pitched voice.

"Does it matter? The fact is there are more ways to use a club than one." The first tribute cackles again. The sounds of their splashes grows chillingly closer.

"AARRRGHH!!" A third voice suddenly yells.

"What, did you know her or something?" The first tribute asks, clearly amused. Their splashes grow to a halt.

"NO, A BLOODY SNAKE. ARRRGGGHH!!" The tribute shrieks. "MY ANKLE!"

"Calm down, it's just a little bite." The other two laugh, resuming their splashing through the water. The third one seethes, curses flying out of his mouth. "Come on, we don't have all day." The first one says, his amusement suddenly replaced with annoyance. The other tribute grumbles, but the splashes that follow tell me he conceded. All of a sudden the splashes grow oddly louder. It takes me a moment to realize that another one has joined their cacophony. It comes from the opposite direction and is louder as if someone is trying to run through the water. A high-pitched scream pierces the air. My neck prickles and I hold my breath, ears straining.