Glory And Gore--Clove's Story, Hunger Games

(11) Well What Can You Do?

I awoke to a loud noise, and unkind screaming. I can't see a thing. Nothing but the color gold.

Gold? Clove, you are going insane.

I run away screaming, taking nothing with me.

I feel an agonizing pain in my neck. Then my cheek. Several more places. What's going on? Everyone was screaming and running. I looked around.

Then I knew.

I knew what that golden color was.

Tracker Jackers.

The Capitol created them during the Dark Days, as defense. They have been frightening to everyone since.

They cause searing pain, powerful hallucinations...and death. Death? Oh my God. I'm dying.

There's no way I'm going to make it out of this mess of trees alive. No way at all.

The hallucinations started kicking in. I saw nothing but bright light, and shadows. Tributes.

My allies. I recognized Vivian, the mess of dark curls. Cato, the muscular arms. Marvel, the spear.

But no Glimmer. Where is she? Then I still hear screaming, Glimmer screaming.

She had been a pain in my butt. She's annoying. She can't shoot or aim. She likes Cato. She thinks everyone loves her. But I have to save her. I feel this need inside my head.

I feel a strong grip on my arm. It won't let go. It's dragging me away.

My eyes close, and I can feel myself passing out. Drifting further away from reality. Tears streamed down my face. I don't know why.

I don't like Glimmer. But she fell.

And that's when I saw it. Cato, holding up a sword to stab me.

Why?

I ran away, not knowing where to go or where I was going.

I tripped on a root, and felt a splash of cold water.

I'm in the lake.

I struggle to pull myself away, since I could black out at any moment. I fell myself fall onto twigs, and then strong arms grabbed my little arms. They were pulling me. Pulling me away from the water.

My eyes closed, and I fell to the forest floor on pine needles, thinking of nothing but death.

~~~~~

My eyes opened to little slits, and closed.

Open, close. Open, close.

I opened them, and kept them open. "What happened?" I asked. But no one was conscious. Marvel was next to me, Vivian was on my other side, and Cato was at the bottom.

But where's Glimmer?

I rubbed my eyes, and went back to our camp. And in the middle, was a busted bee hive.

Huh?

Then I remembered. Tracker Jackers, the golden color. Fire Girl. The sleeping bags and weapons were still there. The food and everything.

Donny better have kept our stuff safe.

Donny!

I bolted back to the rest of the Careers. "Guys! Guys! Wake up!" I yelled. Cato opened his eyes, and Marvel and Vivian followed. "Remember Donny? His land mines? Our stuff is still there. If someone tried to take it, Donny woulda stabbed them!" I exclaimed.