Something Worth Living For [THG] // Finnick Odair

XXXVIII

I wake up in the morning with a pretty sore neck, I move it side to side and rub it to relieve the pain but it doesn't help that much. It's still a bit dark and cold but I have enough light to start my journey back to the cave.

But before that, I look what the green bag contains inside, I didn't have the chance to check it last night. I open it and find a 1.5 lt. bottle, just what I needed and it's almost full so that's good too. I also find a cream for cuts and burns, I find some loaves of bread and some kind of cooked meat. They had enough food for another one or two days, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to follow them, but they didn't have much.

As I walk back to the cave, I do some maths. Jett, Alec, Luciana, Blith, Ryle and Zane are dead. Six tributes are dead. Ryle died on the fifth day, no one died the next day, Zane died yesterday, this is the eighth day. Eight days have passed and only six people have been killed, among them two of the scariest tributes, Ryle and Zane.

I have been here for more than a week and not even half of the tributes are dead, normally the Games last between fourteen and twenty days. And normally about sixteen tributes would be dead by now.

Who is still alive? All the careers except Ryle, both tributes from Districts 3, 6, 9, and 12, also Maisha, Serena, Ira, Delaney, Xander, and I. Eighteen people left, seventeen will die. Seventeen. These games will last about two more weeks, if people don't start to kill each other every day.

I eat some of the bread for breakfast so the carbohydrate content of it will give me enough energy for the journey back to the cave.

Unfortunately on my way back it starts to rain, I keep moving until the rain gets pretty heavy, the jacket and the shoes are waterproof but it is still pretty cold and the arena has started to flood again and I have no shelter. I take the opportunity to drink all the water from one of the bottles and then fill both bottles with the water from the rain.

I got rid of the green backpack because carrying only the big one is simpler even when now it will be heavy with the two full bottles of water and everything else.

It takes a couple of hours for the rain to lighten a bit, and that's when I start to walk again. My hands and the rest of my body are ice cold and I'm shaking, I can't wait to go back to the cave. If some of the tributes don't have shelter, how come they haven't died with the rain? They may have pneumonia or at least just a cold, but by being sick they become easy targets.

It's almost completely dark when I decide to find a good place to spend the night since I won't make it to the cave in time. I find a good tree and climb it, I get comfortable on one of its branches, once there I open the backpack and grab the meat, I decide to make an effort and eat it, I need the protein, I try not to think about what it may be, maybe a rabbit, or a racoon, whatever it is, I don't really want to know. I also eat an apple and drink some water.

I get really upset when I find that all the bread has gotten wet and it's not good to eat now. I have eaten most of it and it has started to rot but I could have eaten it for the next day or two. Now I only have some fruit and some nuts, nothing else, and that's not enough to survive. It seems like I will have to go to the Cornucopia after all. I will go tomorrow if it's not raining anymore, luckily the leaves of the trees stop most of the drops from falling on me, so I do have like a bit efficient shelter, at least from the rain.

That night they show no pictures in the sky, meaning no tribute died. Day eight has just come to its end and no one else has died.

The next day I eat some nuts and an apple for breakfast and get ready to go to the Cornucopia as I planned the night before. I may find nothing but it's worth trying. I rather go find some food than hunt it.