Fiery Payback

Chapter 43

Camille's P.O.V

I look at the three, sleeping bodies in front of me. I am taking the first watch. Sparkle has the next watch, but she won't even be alive for it. Oh, yeah. I have a plan.

Throughout today, I have been picking these poisonous berries that were growing on some bushes. I don't remember the name, but one little taste will leave you dead.

I gently take them out of my pocket, making sure not to squish them. I plan on killing Sparkle and Justin. I know that they are innocent, but I just want them gone.

I still don't know where Jem is. Maybe he decided to stay with his parents and their group. Who knows?

I watch the moon slowly make its way across the sky. I try to count as many stars as I can before I lose count. First watch sucks! Actually, every watch sucks.

I take a leaf that is on the ground, and shape it like a bowl. I pick up another leaf, so nothing can get on my hand, and start to squish the berries into my makeshift bowl. It takes a little bit, but I squish the juice out of every berry.

My "bowl" is three fourths of the way full. Perfect.

I quietly get up and walk over to where Sparkle is. I crouch down and put the leaf bowl to her lips. The juice pours into her mouth. I straighten up and go over to Justin. I crouch again and pour the rest of the juice into his mouth.

Right after this, I hear Sparkle's cannon go off. Justin wakes up and looks at me.

"Thank you." He croaks out, and then his eyes roll to the back off his head. His cannon fires.

"You did it." I hear Serena's voice say. I turn and see her gathering up her things. "We got to go. The hovercraft has to get their bodies."

I gather all my things and wait for Serena. Once she is ready, we start to walk. "I'm sorry about your brother." I say.

"You had to do it. Plus, he wanted a quick death." She said. Thank you. He had said that to me. Now I know why.

"I wish I didn't have to do that. I wish that I didn't have to kill anyone." I say.

"But we have to. Otherwise, we would be dead." She says. I nod my head, but I don't think she saw me do so.

We continue to walk. To where, I don't know. There really isn't a point in going anywhere right now. The smart people would be sleeping. Serena and I are not the smart people.

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BONG! I jump when I hear this. I look at Serena and she is just as startled, or so I think. BONG!

The sound reminds me of my grandparents' clock they have in their living room. It was called a grandfather clock. I don't know why, but it was. And every hour, it would make this loud noise that would announce what hour it was. Say it was five o'clock. The clock would make a noise five times.

BONG! This noise continues until after the twelfth time. Then, it got eerily silent. Not even the cicadas made a sound. Nothing.

Then, a noise like thunder booms behind us. Serena and I jump out of our skins. We both turn around see lightning striking a tree. The weird thing is, the tree wouldn't go in fire. And the lightning would only strike that tree.

It kept going and going. And then I realized something. If there is lightning, shouldn't there be rain? I am super thirsty right now, and so is Serena. We haven't found a single source of water at all. Except for the water surrounding the Cornucopia. But that is salt.

The lightning stops all of a sudden. Serena and I just look at each other. "What is this place?" She whispers.

"I don't know." I whisper back. Even our whispers sound loud right now. The noise that is usually in the forest is gone. Dead quiet.

Then, I hear a patter. Kinda like a raindrop hitting a leaf. Then, another patter. And another. And another.

Then, I feel something drop on my head. Water! I think to myself. I reach up to my head and feel the droplet. I taste the water from my fingertip and almost gag. This is not water.

This is blood.