Midnight Azalea-A Story of the 34th Hunger Games

Chapter 19-Toys of a Death Game

The birds come down in heavy pounds. Jabberjays flutter and peck at the tributes Jasper, Grant, and Natiel. Natiel is chasing Jasper and Grant has run away. A few pecks send down Jasper in a field of very tall grass by the upper mountain land and all that remains of him now is just a bloody heap of a human. Natiel is sprinting, and for the first time I see how fast he is.

Instead of swatting the birds he flies away and the birds are spiraling towards me. Cries escape the jabberjays and they seem in agony. Then I hear the cries of my family. Father is yelping, Mother is crying as she always does, and Lenora is screaming out in pain, almost as if she is dying.

Little birds called jabberjays flutter and scream and peck at me. Natiel has escaped and one cannon fires. I scream and shout but the flapping wings of the birds and their awful screams shroud it.

Aris comes down after a while and plucks me from my crouching position. The birds are gone, and I swear one is still mocking me as I pull up and hear Luxor screaming. Then Jasper. Two jabberjays trade screams and they form a conversation. A scream conversation.

I run my hands over my head and let the tears dry up over my face. The worst part wasn't the pain of the pecking birds. It was the emotional wrap of it.

Pisces was awakened by This catastrophe, so we tell him Luxor and Jasper died this morning. "Wee heading out," I tell my allies, as if I was the leader of the group. "There's a northern cove dotted with mushrooms. You know...the big kind."

Mushrooms, genetically engineered to be taller than regular mushrooms. They're called Penelope Blossoms, I think. I read about them on the peacekeepers bulletin back home. "Penelope Blossoms," I say.

"They're bouncy too," says Pisces, walking to one of them and grabbing the dying strands of "penelepoza" that hang from the mushroom and starts to climb. Once he teaches the top he crawls around '(like monkey bars)' and jumps on the surface. "Fun!" he exclaims. He does many sorts of tricks, but I find this just anther obstacle in our way. I'm sure tributes will be walking by here too.

Aris and I dash to the edge of the mountain and notice Penelope Blossoms, more than usual, are grown in a cluster, the tips protruding from the vertical side. I grab a penelepoza and jump up, and utilize the hook first. Once I reach the claw, which is jutted in the soft surface of the shaft of the Penelope Blossom, I help anchor the hook in place as Aris comes on by. Pisces follows and we repeat until we make it to the third blossom. At this moment I realize how high up we are, and I begin to feel dizzy. The wind doesn't help either.

Blasts of wind gust around us as the mushrooms sway. We all hang on for dear life to the penelepozas but Aris breaks grip and goes falling. As a last resort I quickly unhook the rope we used to climb and throw it her direction, the enlonged rope flying to her aid. She grabs the claw and then goes crashing into the shaft of another Penelope Blossom. The wind continues on even for me to get on top, Maintaining my grip on the rope, so I attach the claw on the other end to the shaft, letting Aris hang in the balance until the wind stops but it doesn't.

Suddenly a giant gust of wind gushes over me and I go flying away.

Aren't I a bird? A bird with no wings to fly. My legs and arms squirm as I brace for the impact of the hard earth against my body but I give out and let the worst come.

But it doesn't.

For a second I am suspended in air, and then I go bouncy.