Morning came with birds singing. I opened my eyes and lay there, listening to the birds chirping to one another. I looked around the forest, observing it for traps or tributes. None.
I untied the rope, and stuffed everything into my bag. Then climbed down the tree and started walking. I didn't encounter any more tributes or traps.
I came across a campfire, but the maker was long gone. A little before nightfall, when I was thinking I should find a tree to sleep in until morning, I found a giant waterhole. I splashed my face, drinking as much water as I could, and then filled up the bottle before moving on.
I didn't realise I was so thirsty. I found a tree about one hundred metres from the water source. I climbed it and got into my sleeping bag, tying myself up with the rope.
I gazed at the sky, waiting for the dead tributes.
There was the boy that died from lighting a campfire the night before.
His name was Nilesy, from District 8. A lot of districts were gone already. And there was Toby, from District 10. Only two tonight.
I thought.
That's good, I guess.
I had a rough night sleeping in the tree, but I managed to get to sleep in the end.
Morning came, and I awoke to a crackling sound.
Frowning, I opened my eyes.
I gasped as I saw a huge bush fire that spread towards me. I quickly untied myself, clumsily stuffing everything into my bag. I jumped from the tree, my foot buckling and I fell to the ground, crying out.
I suddenly turned, and ran.
The fire was almost in front of me. Soon I would be trapped.
I ran for the lake, thinking it would be safe there.
Suddenly, a fireball burst from the flames and shot towards me. I jumped out of the way and it exploded behind me.
I scrambled up and ran. A fireball shot out from my right and before I could react, it hit my calf.
I screamed and collapsed, holding my leg, watching the flesh sizzle slightly. I dragged myself up and ran on, somehow making it to the lake.
I dove in, sighing in relief as the cold water encased me.
I heard chatter and looked up, seeing the careers emerge from the bush. My eyes widened when they saw me. They pointed and shouted and laughed.
I swam for the land as they ran around the lake, chasing me.
I limped quickly through the bush, finding a tall tree and grabbing on to branches, climbing quickly. I heard the others laughing.
"We got her" I heard Minty smirk.
I managed to climb about thirteen metres. Stopping to sit on a branch, I saw Lalna start to climb.
"Come on Lalna" Xephos said.
"Kill her Lalna!" Lomadia shouted.
"I'm coming for you" Lalna sneered. He grabbed a branch and it snapped, sending him back to the ground with a thud.
"I'll do it myself" Lomadia muttered, pulling the bow over her shoulder.
My bow.
She loaded it and aimed for me. At first, I was scared, but when I saw how bad at aiming she was, I smiled. Lalna snatched it off her, loading it again and firing. But it missed by a mile.
"Maybe you should throw the sword" I taunted. The others sighed and looked at each other.
"Lets just wait her out" Rythian said. I froze, listening to him explain.
"She can't stay up there forever, she has to come down for food sometime. Lets just kill her then"
Lalna nodded.
"Someone make a fire"
I climbed in my sleeping bag, starting to feel the cold wind from high up, and once again, secured it with the rope. I ate a little piece of the bird I had hunted, as I watched the careers and Rythian set up a small camp.
Each had their weapons either in their hands, or beside them.
Night fell, and the fire was roaring. Lalna was putting his sword in the fire, watching it glow when he took it out.
Lomadia laughed.
Xephos watched Minty practise knife throwing with a lizard. It had about four knives in it already, poor thing. Ferazhin, from District 2, and Sjin from District 4, just rested, but I saw them keeping an eye on Rythian, who was kind of staring into the fire.
I poured some water over burn, biting my sleeve as pain shot through me. I whimpered, pouring more over, until I couldn't stand it. I then tipped my head back, breathing in the night air. The anthem played, but there were no deaths.
Good.
I thought. I fell asleep, thinking about plans to distract the careers so I could run.
I woke to a whistle and opened my eyes. I glanced down at the careers, sleeping. Something whistled again and I looked up.
I saw Cassandra, a few trees away, staring at me with big green eyes. She pointed to something above my head. I looked up and saw a parachute there. I picked it up and looked back at Cassandra.
She still pointed above my head. I looked up again and saw it.
A nest.
Of tracker jackers.
Engineered wasps that, if stung, can cause powerful hallucinations, and in extreme cases, death.
I looked back at her, and she made a sawing motion, then pointed to the careers. I took out my knife an pretended to saw, then pointed at the nest. She smiled and nodded. I smiled to. First, I opened the parachute, reading the note.
For the burn. Good luck
-T
I opened the container and dabbed my fingers in the ointment, then ran it over the wound. I winced, but then the ointment started working and the burn felt much better.
I packed away the ointment, then packed everything else.
I took out my knife and climbed the tree to the branch.
I started to saw at it, keeping an eye on the careers, in case they woke up, and the nest, in case they attacked me.
I continued to saw, shaking the nest slightly as my knife cut through the branch.
The sharp pain in my ankle made me cry out slightly. I almost stopped, but continued to saw.
Sharp pain in my shoulder. I put my free hand to it, my mouth open trying to scream. Tears stung my eyes as pain shot trough my neck.
Then the branch gave way, and tumbled to the ground. It hit the ground and cracked open, thousands of deadly wasps flew out, instantly awakening the careers and making them scream.
Each one screamed as they scrambled up, taking their weapons as they ran into the bush. But one girl was unlucky.
Lomadia screamed and writhed on the ground, her skin already bloated from the stings. Suddenly, she stopped screaming and moving. Lightning cracked the sky as I climbed down the tree, incredibly dizzy.
I fell the last few metres, stumbling over to Lomadia.
I took the bow from her dry, crackling hands, and grabbed the quiver as well. I turned. The world was spinning and my head was pounding. I found it hard to focus. I saw someone run out the forest, running towards me.
"Run!" Rythian's faded voice shouted.
"Run! What are you doing? Run!"
I turned and stumbled into the forest, reaching out for branches as the world spun faster. Images flashed through my head of Emily. My mother. Parv. Sparkles and Kaeyi and Teutron. I shivered, then dropped to the ground, my world turning black.
