The Second Annual Hunger Games (Book 2)

Ten

Tributes from all around dash toward the supplies. The screen divides into several shots showing different tributes. I focus on the one that shows Fergus and Sybille in the background. Sybille jumps into the water and grabs a pack that wasn't too far from her pedestal and then she books it away from the chaos.

Fergus isn't so smart he moves cautiously toward a bag and picks it up before anyone notices him. Then he spots a knife a couple more feet in front of him; he goes for it and just misses a different knife soaring over his head as he bends down. He looks up in shock and sees the girl from 6 hurtling towards him, but she's not the one who threw it.

She races past him as Swann from 1 throws another knife. It hits her square in the back. Swann turns to Fergus, but he's already running away in a zigzag pattern.

I let out a breath now that they're both out of the bloodbath. The camera continues to show the fight, though; a tribute running away isn't interesting enough.

People are running everywhere and it's mostly a blur. The tributes from 1 and 4 have teamed up and are keeping the others back from the Cornucopia, where the rest of the supplies lie.

Gaviner from 2 moves through the tributes from the other districts in an almost indifferent fashion. He doesn't move to attack anyone, rather watching the battle. A tribute approaches him from behind, a spear in his hand, but Gaviner hears the water sloshing and spins. He bats the spear out of the other tributes hand and punches him in the face. The boy lands in the water, either dead or unconscious; it doesn't matter, the water will drown him quickly.

A mix of tributes from 5, 6, 8, and 9 band together, the only weapons they have are rocks they've found in the water and one sword, though the tribute holding it looks at it with fear. One of them counts to three and they charge the tributes guarding the Cornucopia. It's six against four, but the six don't stand a chance.

Nitya, from 5, goes up against Corbinus from 1. She hurls one of her rocks and he dodges it and walks toward her. He's about to attack when Scorpi, from 6, hits his cheek with a flying rock. Corbinus turns back with a big gash on his face. Nitya tries throwing her other rock but Corbinus catches it. He lunches it at Scorpi and hits his temple, killing him instantly.

Nitya starts backing away, but Corbinus grabs a dagger and goes after her, slicing her down with a few slashes. Her blood taints the water around her.

Brannock, the tribute from 9 who had the sword, and Althea, from 8, are soon the only ones left of the six that attacked. They managed to take down Sagitarria from District 2, but no others. Brannock tells Althea to run as he tries to defend against Yohan from 4.

Yohan moves through the water with ease, Brannock stumbling in front of him. Althea is soon out of the bloodbath and Brannock tries to make a run for it. Yohan throws a wicked looking blade after him. Brannock raises his sword and it diverts the blade away from his stomach. It slices his side instead. He takes off in a sprint holding his side.

All the tributes are gone now except the ones from 1,2, and 4. "Should we go after him?" Yohan asks.

"No." Gaviner stares at the spot where Brannock vanished. "He won't make it far with that wound and it didn't look like he had anything to bandage it with. Another tribute or the arena will... take care of him." Even though he's just killed people he doesn't want to say the word.

Orchid, who hadn't been doing much of the fighting, steps forward. "We should gather the rest of the supplies onto dry ground and take inventory of what we have."

The others nod and disperse through the water, picking up what they find and staying far away from the dead.

Corbinus looks particularly disturbed by the bodies. "We should scout around and see if we can find a bigger area of dry land." The others nod once again, and I get the feeling they all want to use that as an excuse to get away from the people they murdered.