Against His Odds - A Hunger Games FanFiction

Chapter 11

Iris looked around her. She and Jonathan were taking guard at their camp for the night, while Heather and Chad slept. She was making sure no other tributes were coming; especially not the career pack.
     Suddenly, she heard footsteps. She whipped her head around with her spear in hand to see Jonathan walking up to her with a dead squirrel. "I caught a squirrel," he said. Iris sighed. She hadn't even realized that he left. "I think our watch time is over," Iris said, followed by Chad with a nod of his head.
     Iris leaned down by Chad and Heather and quietly nudged them awake. "It's time for you to take watch," she stated. They nodded, got up, and stretched. Iris and Jonathan laid down and immediately fell asleep.

     Iris was jolted awake as Chad was vigorously shaking her. "Look," he said, pointing to the sky. Iris looked up and saw a dazzling colorful streak across the sky that reminded her of the Northern Lights. She smiled.
     "Pretty," she said. She sat against the tree and began to stare at it with the others. She looked around, making sure the Gamemakers didn't put them there to distract them from other tributes.
     Her attention was drawn back to the lights as she heard a scream. A female tribute came running out of the woods on the other side of the stream. Iris quickly stood up and grabbed her spear to throw it. But there was no need.
     The colorful lights moved closer to the ground and to them, and Iris realized that the tribute had swollen, oozing bumps on her. The lights circled around her, and she fell to the ground as a cannon went off. "It's poison gas!" Iris yelled. "Run!" Jonatha yelled. They gathered their supplies and began to run to the opposite direction of the trees.
     The colorful, poisonous gas was nearing them very quickly. Iris fell behind third in the group to help Heather, who was last. She screamed as the poison touched her legs, searing bumps growing on them. She pushed Heather onward, helping her not to get hurt.
     They were nearing the edge of the woods by the time the gas slowly died away. "We're safe," Iris panted. "Let's head back." The group began to head back to the stream. Iris stuck her legs in, hoping to wash the wounds, but only screamed as searing pain thrust up her legs. She brought them out and saw that the bumps just got worse. "The water was poisoned," Heather said.
     A beeping noise brought Iris's attention to see a silver parachute floating down from the tree tops. Jonathan reached up and opened the lid to the capsule. He smiled. "Iris, it's for you," he said, handing her the capsule along with the note. Iris opened it. She saw healing ointment in it and sighed. She read the letter. You should treat those wounds of yours. Be more careful when you see something pretty, it said. Iris laughed. "It's from Odis," she said. She scooped out a bit of the ointment with her finger and sighed as she placed them on the poison bumps, watching them instantly go away.
     "Let's rest," Jonathan said, slumping down against the tree and drinking the water they had purified the night before. "We need to find a new camp. The water was poisoned, and with our screams, the Careers could probably guess where we are," Heather suggested. "Good idea," Chad said and began to stand up.
     They began to move. Iris looked around. "Where should we go?" She asked, looking at her surroundings. Heather suddenly ran forward. Iris guessed that she found something good and ran with her. She smiled as she saw a cave in front of them. "Good eye," she said to Heather. Heather smiled.
     They all entered the cave and rested against the walls of it. "I am going to make a small fire," Chad said. "The smoke won't be too visible in the cave." He went outside and gathered some logs, heaving them back in with big breaths. He set them down. Iris grabbed a match from her bag and lit the fire, feeling relieved from the warmth. She suddenly had an idea.
     "Oh, hey!" She exclaimed. "Heather, do you need a bow?" Heather nodded. "I think I remember how to make one!" Heather brightened up and ran outside. "I'll go get the supplies!" She smiled.

     Iris stood outside of the cave with Heather, practicing her archery. "Does the bow work good?" Iris asked her. Heather nodded and shot an arrow at a bird. The bird fell straight from the trees and onto the ground.
     Heather went to pick it up off of the snowy ground. Iris followed. The bird was some way away. As they approached it silently, Iris saw another tribute run up and grab it. Heather, angered, silently whipped out her bow and shot the tribute in the chest, causing them to fall to the ground, dead. She walked over to them and picked up the bird carcass as a cannon went off like nothing happened. Iris laughed. They headed back into the cave and began to cook the food over the fire as night approached and the Capitol anthem played, lighting up the night sky.

The Fallen Tributes:

Tanya, District 1
Jacob, District 5
Helen, District 10