The Hunger Games: Never Safe From Danger

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Leighla’s POV

“Zech, please…I’m tired. Honestly…I need to…rest…”

“No. We have to run.”

“Oh, but please….I…we must be ages away by-“ My sentence is abruptly cut off as a fall to the ground, Frinn’s backpack weighing me down. This brings back some of the old Zech…my brother before all this stuff about the Games ruined everything.

“Aww, Leigh’…I’m sorry…we can…we can stop soon…” he says, helping me up. “I just want you to be safe…you know?”

I nod weakly and take the backpack off the ground.

“Oh, here, let me take that,” Zech says, taking it. I sigh. Zech rolls his eyes.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually worried about this Frinn kid?” he asks, scoffing at me.

“He could die, Zech, and he’s a person. Even to you, that should mean…something.”

He shrugs. “I just don’t like that kid.”

“Doesn’t mean you should wish death on him!”

“I never said that, I just mean that we have more impo-“

I’m angry now. “You don’t even care, do you? Back there he gave us his supplies and told us to run while he tried to fight the huge kids…you just watched, and he’s probably dead now!”

“Well, he might’ve lived…” He doesn’t sound too sure.

“I doubt it!”

“We’ll see tonight, Leigh.”

“You…you don’t understand…” I whisper.

He tilts his head. “What don’t I understand?”

“He’s the first person who’s been nice to me since all…this…” I flail my arms frantically, trying to represent all that’s happened since the Reaping, but it doesn’t work very well.

“I’m nice to you!” He looks offended, but I’m not interested in pleasing him at the moment.

“Yeah. Sometimes…” I say, shrugging off the hand he’s put on my shoulder.

“Look, Leigh’, we’ll rest soon. Stop being so…irritating.”

“Irritating? Oh, that’s really your biggest problem right now?” This is not my brother. I knew a different boy back in Ten…this isn’t him at all. He used to be so sweet…so caring… “You know…the last week or so has really changed you.”

He just looks away from me, and there’s a period of time in which nobody dares to speak. This is broken, however, when Zech cries out happily. I jump a little.

“Leigh’, look! A cave! Down in that valley!”

“Shelter?” I ask hopefully.

“Shelter!” He nods his approval.

I smile at him, and within five minutes we’re at the cave’s mouth. It’s not very big. It’s as if someone carved a boulder hollow and flattened the bottom, but it’ll be great to rest in at night. We walk in cautiously, just in case it’s rigged or already occupied or something, but everything seems okay so I sit on the floor and start emptying out Frinn’s backpack. A water bottle. A piece of rope. Some dried fruit in a little bag. And some iodine water purifier. I grab the water bottle, take the top off and turn it upside down over the lid- empty. “Great.”

Zech sits down across from me, still clutching his pathetic little dagger. He puts his flask next to the stuff. “Mine’s empty, too.”

“They just hate us, don’t they?” I ask, exasperated already.

“Well, I don’t exactly think we’re their best friends.”

“How long have we been here?”

My brother shrugs. “About an hour, maybe?”

“Right…so, it’s about five? And it’s May…so the sun sets around eight?”

“Well, yeah, but the Gamemakers could change that. If they really wanted to, that is.”

Three hours. Three hours until I know if Frinn’s okay. Well, maybe.

And now I’m thirsty, so I say, “I’m thirsty.”

Zech looks me up and down with a serious expression. “Then we’d best find a stream.”

We hide our supplies behind rocks. It’s not much, but if a tribute wanders in, hoping to scavenge for stuff, with a bit of luck they’ll see nothing. We then set out with the flask, the water bottle and the water purifier. It’s hot, but not uncomfortably hot. There are birds fluttering about the sky.

“So, err…” I begin, feeling a little stupid. “How exactly do you find water in the wild?”

He looks at me like I’m an idiot. “We follow the wildlife. Where there are animals and plants, there’s water.”

It all makes sense. I make a mental note of that for the future. “How do you know that, anyway?”

“Just…listening to people talk. Back in Ten.”

“Because in the Districts, people are always out looking for streams…” I say, suspicious. But there’s nothing to accuse him of, so I just keep walking.

We’ve been walking for about ten minutes when I get this feeling. It’s like…someone’s watching me. I decide I’d better be safe than sorry. “Zech, do you get the feel-”

“Shh!” He sounds excited, and he points out a duck. At first I’m confused. Why is he happy? We have nothing to kill it with. We can’t eat it. But then I remember what he said. Where there are animals and plants, there’s water…

He takes my hand and creeps around the duck so it won’t see us and fly off. It waddles along happily, stopping every once in a while to peck at the ground. The odd little quack makes me smile, and I’m really enjoying myself, which is pretty sick given the situation. I’ve managed to momentarily forget everything- for now, I’m just following a bird with my brother. Back in Ten, they use ducks to teach kids to heard animals. They’re really popular amongst young children, and everyone else thinks they taste delicious.

So I’m really not expecting it when my dreamy bubble I popped by a throwing knife going straight through its wings, killing the poor creature instantly.

I immediately start looking around, hoping Frinn’s somewhere nearby, or even Alerra or Harles. Except…not Harles. I’m disappointed by the realisation that it’s a girl of my age. I don’t know her, and I’m pretty sure Zech doesn’t, either.

She walks towards us and I start to panic, because we are unarmed and she could have anything. I don’t care if she’s my height. I am inherently distrustful of people with blades. But she just eyes us suspiciously and grabs her duck, knife and all, and runs.  I am relieved, but my brother seems angry.

“She just killed our chance at not being dehydrated!” he yells, outraged. “Get away!” This time, he’s screaming in the direction of the girl. Poor kid, I suppose, but Zech has a point.

“Should we go back?” I ask, unsure of whether angering my brother is wise at the minute. His response is some kind of a half grunt, half sigh noise, and he turns around, walking back to the cave.

The sun is now making me uneasy, and my clothes are a little damp with sweat. I’m starting to dream of streams and rivers and lakes when I feel the relief of our shady cave.

I smile and check behind all the rocks. Our stuff hasn’t been pinched yet, so we’re good for now. I wish we’d taken the duck from the girl. I’m getting hungry. Still, she had a knife (and who knows what else) and being hungry is a lot better than being dead.

I just hope Frinn’s lived through the first day, too.

And Alerra.

After the events of the day, curling up on the cold, gravelly floor feels almost good.