The Hunger Games | Rilaya

The Betrayal

Sixty seconds. Sixty seconds of agony and overwhelming fear as I survey my surroundings. I remember Shawn's words in my head. "Just clear out, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the others, and find a source of water."

But it's tempting. At the center of the Cornucopia was a bow along with a sheath of arrows, just waiting for someone to take it. That's mine; that has to be mine. I'm thinking of sprinting, I should be able to make it. Years of hunting has built up my speed and endurance.

The minute of waiting is almost up and I find myself positioning my feet to run. Not away like Shawn said to, but at the center of the action. Suddenly, I finally see Riley, a couple tributes away from me. She locks eyes with me and shakes her head, almost as if she knew what I was thinking.

And I missed it. In the couple extra seconds it took to look at Riley, I've missed my chance to get the bow. I freeze for a second as I watch everyone else charge forward, scrambling for a weapon or some supplies.

Then, I snap out of it. But I couldn't leave without something. I run in the direction of a backpack that was farther away from the fighting. I could practically hear Shawn in the Games Headquarters, shouting curse words at me for not listening to him.

A tribute from District 9 reaches for the pack at the same time as I do. We grapple for it until he staggers back, falling face first onto the ground, a knife lodged in his back. I turn to look at the assailant, the girl from District 2. She runs towards me, one hand clutching an array of knives.

I panic, quickly slinging the backpack over my shoulder and running at full-speed for the woods. I can hear the blade whistling toward me and use the pack to block it.

For the next few hours, I maintain a fast pace, alternating between jogging and walking, putting as much distance as I can between myself and the other tributes. I hold the knife that the girl from District 2 had thrown at me in my hand, ready for a sudden attack.

I know that I can go a long time, but I'll need water. That was Shawn's second instruction and since I already disobeyed the first, I keep an eye out for any sign of it. Nothing.

It is late afternoon when the first cannon sounds, startling me. I pause and count each cannon. Eleven dead, thirteen left. Dread fills through me when I think of Riley, has she lasted through the day? I'll know in a couple hours when they project the dead's images into the artificial sky.

I have to hold onto a tree for support when I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the thought that Riley may already be dead, her body collected and in the process of being transported back to the Capitol. I try to remember if I had seen her since the action started. Unfortunately, the last image I remember of her is when she was shaking her head at me.

I force myself to move on, knowing that the cameras probably caught my little reaction and broadcasted it to the whole country. I can even imagine Caesar's comments on it, making up random theories on why I almost had a panic attack, most of them probably involving Riley.

Right now, the most important thing is water. I finally open my backpack, checking the items I had in there. One sleeping bag, a pack of crackers, a pack of dried beef strips, a bottle of iodine, a box of wooden matches, a small coil of wire, a pair of sunglasses, and a half gallon plastic bottle. I scoff when I see that it was empty, how hard would it have been for them to fill up the dang bottle!?

After a couple more hours of randomly walking around, twilight is closing in and it's clear that I need to find a place to camp for the night. I carefully pick a tree that will conceal me from any other tributes.

Grabbing my sleeping bag, I tie myself to a branch just in case I rolled over in my sleep. Right when I'm about to fall asleep, the anthem sounds, jolting me awake.