The Hunger Games - Through the Fire and Flames - Book 1

Chapter 17

Me and my final two allies found shelter between a wall of bushes and a large cliff near the cave entrance we had left. None of us slept that night, not because we didn't trust each other but because we were too stressed out to. Tyne was torn apart because she felt like it was supposed to be her that died not River. She blamed his death on herself and was constantly crying. Phoenix couldn't relax because he kept twitching everytime he heard a noise. Fearing for me he would grab a knife only to realized it was just an animal or a rustle of bush in the wind. Finally the day pulled forth and everything that seemed sinister turned innocent in the day light.

"We should start moving and looking for those other tributes. We have six to find and kill then-" Just like Raider he didn't finish his sentence.

"Maybe we should split up?" Tyne suggested "We could cover more ground."

After much consideration we realized she was right. We poured all our items out and divided them equally before we each took our own restocked bag. I left with my weapons in my suits weapon belt and my bag on my back. I had emptied my arrows into one sheeth and slung it over my shoulder keeping one arrow readied in my bow.

I had 6 people to kill off. I didn't even take one step when I launched my bow at the male from District 4 and his ally from District 8. They dropped like stones and then two blasts went off making their deaths official. Scratch that I now had 5 to get rid of.

I made my way down a path and came out into a clearing suddenly everything around me was active. Tyne and Phoenix were in a battle against a female from District 6 and the Male from District 11. I brought out an arrow from my sheeth and loaded my bow before I sent an arrow at the male. It hit him in the back just as he flicked a knife at Tyne.

Tyne took the knife that was sticking in her chest and gave it a tug before she dropped it to the ground. I saw her eyes flicker up at me and then she dropped to the ground. A blast was heard and I knew she was dead. Phoenix picked up the knife that had killed Tyne and threw it at the male from 11 who dropped to the ground and gasped for air until Phoenix stabbed him again. A blast called his death and then we moved on.

 Two males and  myself left. A male from 10 and Phoenix. We paired up again because Phoenix didn't want to leave my side. We grabbed Tyne's bag and decided to find some shelter for the night and start again tomorrow. We walked the hour hike back to the cave where River killed off Essence and Rayda had drowned. After several moments of silence Phoenix and I pulled out the food and began hacking things together for dinner. We ate in silence.

Dark fell hard and it began storming causing the cave to flood worse then the other day. We retreated to the top of the rock were we had our breakfast that day in the cave and zipped all three of the sleeping bags together and the zipped it up creating one large sleeping bag instead of a blanket. We got inside and tucked the top over. Since it was storming we weren't worried about being found atleast for the night.

"Some game huh" Phoenix whispered to me.

"Some game" I repeated back to him.

After staring into each others eyes for several minutes Phoenix spoke. "Maybe we should just call it quits and stay here forever. We have everything we could possibly need, food, warmth, shelter, each other." He finished.

I shook my head almost immediately. "I promised my father I'd try my best to come home."

Great, nice way of wording it. It practically sounded like I just promised to kill him off. Well I hoped that I didn't have to kill him, I was counting on the male from 10 to do that. I could easily kill 10 but I couldn't kill Phoenix.

"You will keep your promise." He  began. "Tomorrow we will go searching for the other tribute, we will kill him and then you will kill me got it." He told me.

I shook my head. "I'm not going to kill you." I told him.

"Do it for your father, your mom, your brother."

I shook my head and closed my eyes. If he wouldn't end the conversation I would just go to sleep. After several minutes I was out like a light bulb. Just like he promised he woke me, we ate half of the fruits we had left and then set out. We walked on for half the day before we settled for lunch. We cooked the rest of the fish and ate it before we drank water rested for some time and then moved on.

We walked on well past dinner, neither of us was hungry so we continued searching. We went well into the night using our night vision glasses and eventually called it a night. We went into the sleeping bag and I slept while Phoenix took gaurd for the first few hours. When we switched out it was almost dawn. Phoenix slept for several hours before he was awaken by my jostling to get out of the bag. I quickly retrieved my bow to defend myself against a threatening approach that turned out to be just a small deer who seemed to be frightened and wounded. As it turned around I noticed a knife in its side.

"He's near" I whispered to Phoenix who rose to his feet and pulled out a blugeon object.

Before I could blink a sharp pain filled my shoulder and I screamed. I turned around and was face to face with a small boy who looked about my age but a inch taller. I took several feet back and reached to feel my shoulder a blade was sticking in me. I gritted my teeth and pulled it from my arm before I threw it into the bushes.

Phoenix pounced on the small boy and they began wrestling on the ground. For being small the boy was hard to pin down. He drew another knife from his person and stabbed Phoenix in the chest. I screamed and picked up my bow before pulling an arrow out of the sheeth and shot him in the head. The blast went off before he even hit the ground. Groaning in pain Phoenix tried sitting up but he couldn't.

I lowered my bow to the ground and knelt beside him. He was loosing blood fast and I couldn't help him.

"Please don't die on me I need you." I said to him. A tear fell from my eye and landed on his face.

He reached his hand up and touched my face. "You never needed me, you are strong on your own. You made it."

"Your still alive." I pointed out.

He shook his head. "I am going home soon and so will you." His eyes seemed to loose focus before he sighed. "It's nice to see you Ember. Have you come to take me home." He reached his hand up and touched something I couldn't see and smiled.

"Who are you talking to?" I asked him.

"Ember" he sighed. suddenly his hand felt and a blast was heard. He was gone.