The Second Annual Hunger Games (Book 2)

Twenty-One

The train starts to slow as we near the station for District 8. The ride went quickly, Talon and I both taking turns sleeping. We push all the crates back into place and exit the compartment. Talon jumps off easily and I follow. We head into the trees next to the tracks.

I take out the compass and map. I turn to the left a bit. "This way's north. We have to go through a lot of 8 and all of 9 and then there's the huge lake that Baron mentioned before we get to 13. It looks like we'll have to find a way to cross it or take a long detour around it."

Talon nods and takes off in the direction I indicated. I purse my lips and put the map away, keeping the compass out to make sure we keep going the right way.

The foliage immediately thickens and it becomes hard for us to walk normally. Mockingbirds around us fill the air with sound. The light streams through the leaves, casting strange shadows.

Talon slows down and soon we're walking side by side. I tense just a bit. I never asked you, how do you and your brother know sign language?

I smile, relaxing. "My whole family knows it. My little sister, Trinks, she's deaf. She has been her whole life and we all learned it to communicate with her. It's actually kind of nice," I glance at him. "There's always someone listening, the Capitol, a neighbor, a family member. We could actually have private conversations because of it."

He smiles and nods. Sadly, even with sign language, there weren't a lot of private conversations in the Capitol. Not like out here at least.

I nod and we walk for a minute, before I say, "So you lived in 13, right? Before... you became an avox?"

Yeah.

"Are you... excited to go back?"

He pauses. I'm not sure. Part of me still believes that it was destroyed and that everyone I knew is dead. It was a long time ago and, it took a while, but I accepted their deaths. I mean, they broadcasted the bombings. He looks at the ground. There's another part of me that has hope, though. That all my friends survived, which is unlikely. There's no way they saved everyone. He takes a deep breath and then smiles. We should be positive though. We escaped from the Capitol. How many people can say they did that?

I laugh. "Very true. But there's a lot of things we don't know." I chuckle. "There's a whole secret rebellion in the Capitol that not even Dane knows about."

Speaking of not knowing things, he signs. Oh no, I think. You won't tell me what happened the night before the games? He stops and pulls me to face him.

I cringe. "I'm sorry, but I want you to remember and not just take my word for it."

Was it bad?

"No... I mean sort of. What do you remember?" I ask.

He purses his lips. I remember bringing a tissue box to your room... and, he squeezes his eyes shut, you got an eight for your score.

"Yes, and?"

I left or... I was forced to leave. I don't know. He opens his eyes. Is that it?

I shake my head and continue walking, looking at the ground. Talon walks beside me for a while, but soon he gets ahead of me. I take a great deal of deep breaths as we walk, trying to keep myself from blurting out what happened between us.

Rendwick makes his way through the swamp water towards the District 4 tributes. They passed by him last night and he followed them back to their camp before climbing a tree a considerable distance away. He moves slowly, barely causing a ripple in the water.

He hears them as he nears.

"Yohan, I'm sorry, but I think we must split up now," the girl is saying.

There's a long silence, Rendwick continues forward. "I don't think that's a good idea, Orchid," Yohan says. "Corbinus and Swann are still together. If they come for us, the only way to beat them would be together."

"What about the other two?" Orchid asks. "They're on their own and doing just fine avoiding Corbinus and Swann."

Rendwick comes into view of them and pulls the bow he found off of his back. He gets into a good position then pulls an arrow from the quiver. He aims at Orchid first, her back to him. He's never fired an arrow before, yet it hits its target. Rendwick ducks behind a tree before Yohan can register anything.

Orchid gasps for breath once, then falls to the ground, a cannon firing as she does. Yohan stares at her for a moment, clenching his jaw. He looks up, but can't find a sign of the shooter. He loads a few daggers in his belt and grabs Orchid's spear from beside her.

He moves in the direction of the shooter, staying close to the trees. Rendwick notches another arrow, wincing as he pulls the string back. He spins around quickly and fires, missing Yohan by a foot. Rendwick gives up on the bow and tosses it to the side. He pulls out a knife instead.

Yohan approaches and jabs with the spear, barely grazing Rendwick on the arm. Rendwick tries to bat at the spear, but he's clearly at a disadvantage with a smaller weapon. Yohan thrusts the spear forward again and Rendwick nearly falls over trying to avoid it.

A low growl sounds from behind Rendwick. Both tributes freeze and peer in that direction slowly. Their eyes grow wide as they see what looks like an enormous log floating toward them, but they know it's not a log. They both take off, Yohan moving more swiftly through the water. He glances behind him. The crocodile has picked up speed and is moving faster than it should be able to, no doubt enhanced by the Capitol. Yohan looks at Rendwick and something clicks in him. He swipes his spear in front of Rendwick, tripping him.

Rendwick yells as he faceplants into the water. He struggles to get up, but the crocodile is already upon him. Yohan looks back only once after that, wishing he hadn't.

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long, I've really been crappy at uploading these last few months. I'll try to do better. We're getting close to the end of the story! So what did you think of this chapter? Do you think Talon will ever be able to remember what happened? Who do you think will win the games? Let me know your predictions in the comments and if you liked this chapter please give it a vote! Thanks for reading!