The Hunger Games (Writing Contest) [CLOSED]

Leya's Version

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The only thing on my mind as I am raised into the arena is fear. I take a deep breath and allow my eyes to adjust to the blinding light, and then turn my head to examine the arena. The Cornucopia is straight ahead, filled with shiny silver bladed weapons, colorful backpacks, and various other small life-supporting supplies. Behind me is a savanna full of tall grasses and a few trees, and to the east and west all I can see is a huge expanse of jungle. I hear the sound of rushing water coming from the east, but I know that many of the tributes will flee in that direction because of this. I now focus my attention on finding my allies. I spot Seth standing several pedestals to my right, and Ember is only a few spaces further than him. To my left is Addalyn, on a pedestal which is six spaces away. Knowing that I have the best sense of direction in our alliance, I look at Seth and tilt my head towards the west. He gives a quick nod, and then turns to inform Ember while I reveal our choice of direction to Addalyn. Both she and Ember give the sign that they understand, and then prepare their running stance towards the Cornucopia. I take one more deep breath as the countdown nears zero, and wipe my mind of all things related to fear as I jump off of the pedestal.
        I sprint to the west side of the jungle and find that Seth is running along with me. We cross the border between the flat central grounds and the green jungle foliage, and continue running, occasionally tripping on a tree root but pushing on after the minor obstacle.
After hours of running, we decide to take a break near a patch of rocks. Vines lay tangled on the squishy dirt floor, and we sit on the boulders trying to slow our panting breaths.
"Are you doing alright?" I ask Seth in a whisper.
"Yeah," he replies. "You?"
"I'm okay. Do you think Ember and Addalyn saw us coming this way?"
Before he has a chance to answer, a tall boy stumbles into view from behind the thick trees and shrubs. A look of surprise momentarily flashes across his face, but is then replaced by an evil grin. Seth and I jump off of the rocks, scrambling to get away before the boy from Ten can reach us. He also runs at us, but we somehow all end up entangled in the vines.
I immediately start tugging at the vines that are wrapped around my legs, trying to get out of their strong hold. I notice that Seth and Aalto are doing the same, but they both have a lot more muscle than me. Aalto finally untwists the final vine from around his ankle, and then charges at Seth. Seth yanks hard at the plant, hurrying to defend himself from Aalto. Luckily, right as Aalto reaches Seth, Seth is able to pull the vine off of his knee and punch Aalto in the neck. Aalto returns the hit, managing to kick Seth's knee.
Meanwhile, I continue struggling to remove the vines from around my legs. I can't seem to successfully tug them all off without having another one twist back around my ankles. I attempt to kick my legs, hoping that this method will help to get rid of the vines quicker. Instead of removing the vines, I fall backwards, smacking my shoulder against a hard root. I wince in slight pain, and finally am able to jerk the last vine off of my leg. I quickly stand up, looking to see what I can do to help Seth in his fight with Aalto. I find a small stick in the mess of shrubbery and dirt, and then run over to the fight. The next thing I know, Aalto's startled face is decorated with a long scratch and tiny beads of red. He looks at me as if I may have just annoyed him a little bit. He turns to punish me for the scratch, but Seth knocks him over from behind. He appears to be angry at Aalto for attempting to hurt one of his allies.
"Don't you dare even think about hurting her," he growls. " We will go one way and you can go the other. And if you dare come back, I will personally make sure that you regret that decision."
Aalto sneers at this comment and attempts to stand back up, but Seth holds him down. I hold the stick aimed at his face and place my foot on his arm so that he can't do anything to us.
"I said, if you come back you will regret this. We'll stay away from you, and you stay away from us. There's plenty of tributes out there. Don't even think about coming anywhere near us again. You got it?" Seth snaps. Aalto seems to want to continue with his comebacks, but concedes when he realizes that I can do a lot more damage with the stick.
"Fine," he says. "Now let me up and I'll leave." I hesitate before removing my foot from his arm, and then Seth lets him up. Aalto runs away in the direction that we were taking, so we decide to retrace our steps in hopes of finding Addalyn or Ember faster. We are careful to avoid getting entangled in the vines, but my shoulder stills throbs from my fall.
Hardly twenty minutes pass before we find Addalyn. She managed to escape from the Cornucopia with several weapons and supplies, the most significant being an axe for Seth and spears for herself.
"I got out before Ember, but I saw her coming the same way that I came. I think that we should set up somewhere around here," Addalyn comments. I nod my head in agreement, and then we search the area for a good spot to hide. We find a small area that is surrounded by thick berry bushes, and decide to set up here.
"I'm worried about Ember. I'm going to try to find her. She should be back by now," I speak up. Addalyn and Seth agree to watch camp until I get back, so I grab a small dagger from the pile of supplies and leave the safety of the bushes.
It doesn't take me long to find her. When I do, I find that she is stuck in several of the pesky vines. She hands me another knife to help her cut away the vines. Once she is untangled, I grab one of the two backpacks she found and together we walk back to the bushes.
"Oh thank goodness you're back. You okay?" Addalyn asks Ember once we get back.
"Yeah, I just got a cut on my face. But I got a bunch of supplies!" She then hands me a sickle, and I give an appreciative smile. Seth and I then tell our two allies about the small fight with Aalto.
"Do you think he's gonna come back?" Ember asks.
"Probably not," Seth replies.
"And even if he does, we all have our weapons now, so we should be pretty safe for the time being," I chip in. We finish setting up camp, and decide to rest for the evening. Later that night, we receive two parachutes with sponsor gifts for Seth and I.
As I huddle under my new blanket for warmth, my mind goes back to the morning. All I could think of was fear. But now, the only thing on my mind is survival. If we are careful, we can do this thing. Someone in our alliance could win.