Midnight Azalea-A Story of the 34th Hunger Games

Chapter 16-Mutts

"A crown huh? How weird is that?" Aris tells me as we slowly make our way up the mountain. "It has to have explosive properties. But I bet it's a fake."

"You're smart." I begin to think about Natiel, and what he's probably thinking right now. He's probably somewhere deep in the woods, searching for fresh game or water. The woods aren't very dense, so he must be around. Yet, I see the look in my companion's eyes. Sentra was the last thing she had left, and two victors from 12 might help in their regard.

Aris gasps for air. "Can we take a break?" She sits down on a boulder. We've made forty feet up the rigorous mountain, and I'm starting to get hungry. Here there is just green woods, trees sprawling everywhere.

Life is lifeless here, just the shadows of trees and no sky. The canopy of leaves is so dense above the sky is not visible. "I don't see anything. Maybe we should camp up in a tree," I say.

Aris looks up at a big tree with a few long branches that fall to other trees. Ivy hangs from the bark. "We can snuggle in just one place?"

"Well camp, see what comes in the afternoon."

"I saw a girl with a bow. We've the best chance to raid her," Aris tells me.

"Who?" I say.

"The girl from district three," says her. "Hazel. She isn't even good for it."

"We could play allies," I say. "I can give her one of my knives." I pull out my canteen of water and take a sip. "Want some?" I gesture at her.

"Kind, but in fine." Aris gets up and brushes off some dust. "Is it just me, or is it humid here?" Water starts to creep up from the mossy ground.

"It's damp," i tell Aris. "By afternoon it'll probably be flooding. But not too bad."

She sighs. "Will it? I hope not." She starts to crawl up the black tree, and finds a good fork to sit in. "Coming up?" She asks me. "I have some room for two."

"Why not?" I plant my foot in a hole at the base of the decaying tree and jump up just as Aris did. Once I am next to her I feel something under my rear. I figure it might be a knife or something, so I lift myself up, but what's under isn't a knife. It seems to appear as a cockroach, except as big as my hand. Some damage is applied, but it's still upright. The real time I start to flinch is when it begins to hiss.

Next thing we're doing is running, because the pores in the decaying tree are leaking those mutts, and now they're hot on my heels. Aris is armed, and I am as well. The cockroaches are speedy, and they're coming at us fast.

One manages to bite me. I double over as blood races through me, and the bite swells. Pus Emirates from the bites and soon I have to walk. I'm on the ground now, the earth filling my ears and nose. I peer at the world around me and all I see is woods and cockroaches. That's until a small girl shoots an arrow into the crowd.