Against His Odds - A Hunger Games FanFiction

Chapter 12

Iris woke up. She thought she heard something, but as she looked around, she saw only her allies. But the noise around her was eerily quiet. As she looked around, she thought she saw a pair of eyes in the darkness. She rubbed her eyes, and as looked back, nothing was there.
     "What is it?" Heather asked, looking at her. Her and Chad had taken the night watch. "I thought I saw something," Iris said. "I'll wake up Jonathan." She walked over and nudged Jonathan. He woke up with a jolt, aimlessly waving his arms around. "It's just me," Iris said. He sighed.
     Iris jumped as she thought she heard a high squeak noise. "Did you hear that?" She asked. Heather and Jonathan looked at her like she was crazy, while Chad responded, "Yeah, it sounded almost like a mouse."
Suddenly, the sound of beating wings filled the silence in the room. Iris's eyes widened with fear as she saw tons of giant, mutant bats fly towards them from the shadows of the cave. "Bat mutts!" Heather yelled. They all got up in a rush and began to run out of the cave.
     Pain shot through Iris's arm as a mutt bit onto her arm and began to forcefully pull her back. The sound of its giant batting wings shot into her ears. She grabbed her spear and stabbed it, running back with more ease as it let go and fell limp on the ground. She heard Heather's scream and turned back in time to see a bat mutt latch its legs onto her shoulders, pulling her back vigorously. But another bat latched onto someone else, and Iris couldn't even muster up anything to say as she stared at the other tribute flailing around helplessly. Jonathan.
     Both mutts were pulling back as hard as possible, wanting to sink their teeth into their bodies. But Iris knew she could only save one of them. Which one would she choose? She thought as quick as possible, time ticking down as every second passed.
She finally decided. Spear in hand, she jumped at one of the bat mutts and thrust the spear throught its chest with all of the guilt in the world coursing through her vains. It fell to the ground, releasing Heather's injured, wounded body. Iris picked her up and ran to the entrance of the cave, looking back to see Jonathan's bloody body being ripped limb from limb, his screams shredding through the cave.
     A cannon went off. Iris ran out of the cave and dropped Heather's wounded body, falling at Chad's feet. "Where's Jonathan?" Chad asked. Iris looked at him with tears running down her face and slowly shook her head. Chad sighed and grabbed Jonathan's hammer. He hit it against the rock at the base of the cave, causing it to break. It released the pressure of the other rocks and they fell down to block the entrance to the cave as the mutts nearly reached them. It was over.
     Iris whipped her bag off of her shoulder and quickly pulled out her medicine. She placed it on Heather's wounds, listening to her weak moans. "I couldn't save him. I couldn't save him," Iris whispered as she treated Heather's wounds. The sudden beeping of a silver parachute alerted the group. Iris looked up at the sky and grabbed it as it fell into her hands.
     She opened the jar and found medicine and bandages laying in it with a note topping it off. Iris picked up the note and read it. Thank you for saving her. I know it was a hard decision. Signed, President Snow. Iris grabbed the bandages and finished treating Heather with President Snow's message in mind. She gave the note to Heather and curled up against the tree. Iris began to cry, sobbing up all the guilt in her shaking body.

     Iris woke to Chad shaking her awake. She must have fallen asleep. She could still feel the tears clinging onto her face. She looked over and saw Heather sitting against the tree beside her, nibbling on a cracker. She smiled. "Thank you," Heather said. Iris just nodded. She had the life of two people in her hands, but could only keep one.
     "We need to find a new campsite," Chad said. "We can't stay here." Iris nodded. "Where will we go?" She asked. Chad slumped down against another tree. "We can continue to search. It will be just like the first night," Heather offered. Iris nodded.
     "Let's head to the east," Iris suggested. Chad responded, "Why the east?" "We haven't been that way. Maybe there is a new source of water there that isn't poisoned," Heather said, reading Iris's thoughts. Iris nodded, picked up her stuff, and began to walk that way with Chad and Heather following behind her. She glanced back to see Chad stop and set a flower on the blocked cave entrance. "For Jonathan," he said and continued to follow.
     The snowy area was eerily quiet. Iris kept glancing around her, making sure no more mutts were following them. She had her spear in hand, ready to attack anything that crosses their path.
     A russling in the nearby bushes caught her attention. Iris looked over at the bushes, catching a glimpse of silver fabric in it. She slowly and quietly crept over to see another tribute asleep in the bushes. She smiled. "Let's get this over with," she said. She lifted up her spear and stabbed the tribute straight in the chest.
     A cannon went off, and Iris heard the copter coming near. She watched a big metal cage extend from it, grab the tribute, and lift it back up into the sky. The sound of light feet against the snow made Iris look up to see Heather standing over something. Looking closer, she saw a bundle of supplies under her. "Look at all this food and water!" She exclaimed. "We'll make our base here!" "Where did all the water come from?" Chad asked, licking his parched lips. Iris took a closer look at everything. She saw holes in the trees and a silver spile laying in the pile. "Of course," she said in a hushed tone, "He extracted the water from the trees." Heather took the spile and stuck it in one of the trees. Water began to poor from it as she quickly quenched her thirst.
     Iris looked up to see the moon just beginning to rise in the dark sky. It had been a long day, but it had passed by so quickly. "I'll take first watch," she offered. Chad nodded and layed down against a clump of ferns, immediately falling asleep. Heather stayed up to watch the anthem play in the night sky as the fallen tributes were listed.

Jonathan - District 2
Maybelle - District 4
Donald - District 4
Tiana - District 6
Tyson - District 6
Daniel - District 9

     As they fell asleep, Iris watched the moon rise to the fullest, smiling as she saw the twinkling stars lighting up through the dark.