The 151st Annual Hunger Games

Games~Day 5~Part 3

Chloe Bloom's POV:

"You have three minutes, run."

The voice is rushed, trying to stay steady but coming out frantic instead. The voice, a woman's, cuts out almost immediately after, leaving us all dazed. The adrenaline and shock making me oblivious to my surroundings. Suddenly tributes are running. Pushing. Shouting. Screaming.

I can't see where I'm going but Erika is in front of me, pulling us along as fast as she can. Some of the Careers stay milling around the cornucopia but most tributes are following Erika. She's saying something, people are confused, my mind is spinning. Ashlyn shakes my shoulders, pointing to where Erika is dodging through the trees ahead. We're being lead back through the forest, the previous flood making it impossible to move through the broken branches and mud.

Quite a few tributes drop unneeded supplies to the ground, lightening the weight of their packs.

"What are you doing?" Kailan shouts over the noise of splashing mud and tree branches snapping.

"Just trust me." A few tributes slow down at this, wondering why on earth they should trust a girl who, up until now, has been most definitely not on our side. Ashlyn pulls me along, the warning from the minutes before affecting her more than I thought. She looks like her mind's on auto-pilot, blank expression and automatic reflexes.

There are four of us still following Erika. Kailan, Ashlyn, me, and for some reason, Red. I don't know why he didn't just stay behind with the Careers.

We seem to continue on for miles and miles but I know our allotted three minutes wouldn't allow that.

We ran until we came to an abrupt stop, standing just feet away from the forcefield surrounding the arena. Kailan stepped up to it, turning her head to Erika.

"You've done this to kill us haven't you? They give us three minutes to hide or fight or whatever it is they're talking about and you lead us to a death trap? How could you?" She says accusingly, her voice rising with each word. Erika looks at her, dumbfounded, holding her stance like she isn't concerned about Kailan at all. In fact she shrugs like she couldn't care less.

"Fine, do what you want. In case you didn't know, I'm trying to help you." She sneered back.

Without another word Erika grabs a water bottle from her pack and rolls it on the ground , watching with satisfaction as it seemingly disappears in the forcefield. It doesn't bounce back, it doesn't explode, it simply...passes through it. We all stand there, eyes wide, watching Erika as if we're waiting for her to make another move. She stays staring at the place where the water bottle once was, only glancing up when she notices the silence.

"Well? What are you all doing standing around? Let's go." She says, almost as if she's wondering why she's even helping us in the first place.

Kailan shrugs, "You first."

As I watch the two arguing, a silent timer seems to be going off in my head. We were given three minutes. Erika did this.

"I'll go." I blurt out, pushing past both girls and pulling Ashlyn with me. I glance back at her when I'm about to step through but she just looks at me like I'm crazy and drops my hand. "Ash..." I whisper.

"You go, I'll follow." She says, her face blank as if she's in shock.

Everyone's eyes are now on me, waiting to see if I'm actually going to follow through with what I said. Erika looks skeptical but her eyes seem to urge me to go, Kailan stands with her arms crossed beside her and Red stands at the back looking strangely smug.

Before I can think anymore into it I nod one last time at Ashlyn and spin on my heel, stepping through the disabled forcefield as darkness surrounds me.

Ashlyn Pope's POV:

As my only ally left in the Games stepped through that forcefield my breath stopped. What if this is all a trick? What if the forcefield kills her? What if what's waiting on the other side is even worse than that?

As soon as Chloe disappeared, Erika turned on Kailan.

"You see? When are you going to believe I'm trying to save you."

Kailan just narrows her eyes, " Yeah, whatever."

Despite trying to keep up her act I can tell Kailan is just trying to preserve her pride at this point, not showing how she really does just want to get out of here. She steps forward next, testing the forcefield with her hand before taking a step and disappearing in the soft glow of the barrier.

Chloe's waiting on the other side.

I try and assure myself as I step forward. Before I have the chance to go through I hear a cry from behind me. Red has taken Erika back by her hair and holds a throwing knife menacingly.

"I knew you were a part of something from the very beginning. But doing the President's bidding? How could you betray all of us like that?" He spits.

Erika looks frightened, an emotion I never thought I'd see on a Career, and I know I can't just stand by and watch. I ditched my pack long before we got here and have nothing but the dagger strapped to my belt. I've never been that great at hand-to-hand combat and my chances against Red even if I was fully armed are slim to none anyways.

Erika seems desperate as Red continues his angry rambling and amidst his blind accusations I slide my dagger from my belt and roll it softly through the short grass, leaving it laying at Erika's feet.

"Hey!" I shout, trying to mask the fear in my voice. "How do I know you aren't doing the same thing, huh? Maybe the President got you to be her little traitor too?" I mock. Red turns towards me, his eyes narrowing. My arms lay by my sides but I reach one hand out just a little further showing Erika my concealed hand.
One.
Two.
Three.
My fingers count down.
Erika spins, punching Red to the ground.
Erika picks up the dagger from the ground.
Erika shouts at me to run.
Erika promises she'll follow.
I turn from the scene as fast as I can, my mind spinning, and sprint through the forcefield without a second thought.

A/N: Literally I don't even know what this ending is. I've been plotting out the next few chapters, I'll try and update quicker now. Thanks so much for reading. Also thanks for 10K on my other book I can't even comprehend how cool and amazing that is. Have a lovely day!