Fiery Payback

Chapter 45

Alyssa's P.O.V

A loud noise wakes me up. I sit straight up. I almost fall over with the dizziness that came over me. Once it subsided, I look around for the source of the noise.

I see Mommy with her bow and arrow. She looks scared. That makes me scared.

I look at my brother, who is still asleep. How can you sleep during this? Johanna is also asleep. How?

Then, the noise ends. I sigh a breath of relief. It's over.

Spoke too soon. Lightning strikes on a tree. Thunder booms over and over again. The lightning just strikes this one tree, over and over.

I get up and run to Mommy. She holds me tight, making sure I am not out of her sight. "What's going on?" I quietly ask her.

"I don't know." She says. "Did you wake up when the cannons fire?"

A tribute died? Wait! She said cannons. More than one tribute. "No. I woke up to that loud noise that kept repeating." I answer.

She nods her head. Who died? I want to know!

I don't know how long it lasted, but the lightning just stops. No warning. Just stops.

I look up at Mommy and she looks worried. She looks down at me and smiles. "Don't worry." She says. "Everything is okay."

I look down at my hands. I don't believe that. Then, something like rain is pouring somewhere in the arena. Wait a second. It is right by us! Water!

I get up and tug my mom's arm. "Come on! Water!"

She looks at me, confused. Then, she understood at what I meant. But instead of getting up, she tugged me back down. "There might be other tributes there. We don't want to run into them."

Then, a cannon fires. I jump when it fired. I tighten my grip around my mom. She is my protector.

Then, the rain suddenly stops. Just like the lightning, there is no warning. I tense up, waiting for the next and thing to happen. Then, nothing happens. But I still don't relax.

*************
I hear a roar come from behind Mommy and me. I turn around and see a shadow slip by. It looked big. I whimper and bury my head into my mom's chest. She tenses up.

She gets up, pulling me up with her. She wakes up Johanna and Matthew. "We got to go!" She shouts.

Then, another roar is heard, closer this time. It's coming. Johanna and Matthew both heard it. Matthew comes over to me and picks me up. I ride on his back like he is giving me a piggyback ride. I hang on tight, and we run. We run away from the thing. The thing must of heard us because it starts to chase us. It must be faster than us because it catches up pretty quick.

I turn around and see red eyes. That's all I can say about that creature. I don't know what it is. I only know that it has red eyes. I turn around and see everyone ahead of Matthew and me.

Matthew takes a sharp turn, going another way to get away from the beast. But Matthew trips on something and falls. I get off him and help him up.

The fall must of been louder than I thought. The beast starts to come in our direction. Matthew takes me by my shoulders and makes me look him in the eyes.

"Alyssa, you got to run. Run away from the place and don't look back!" He says. Then, he release me. I turn around and start to run. I don't look back. I know that my brother isn't behind me. I can tell.

I keep running until I have to stop and take a breath. I put my hands on my knees and take deep breaths. I take a look behind me and see no one or nothing there.

I turn back around and look at the ground. Once I catch my breath, I straighten up and walk.

I try not to cry. I try not to think about what just happened and that I don't know where I am. I am so distracted that I run into something. Something wet, warm, and soft.

I look up and see a tribute there. I gasp and try to back up, but I end up tripping and falling on my butt. Then, the tribute offers me a hand.

I look at the hand, confused, but take it. Once I am up, I look at the tribute that just helped me up. I almost fall back down on my butt.

It's Camille.