Becoming Adamant [#1]

Chapter 18 - Can I Really Trust You?

I don’t sleep much…actually I don’t sleep at all. I mean, how can I sleep at all? I’m in the freaking Arena in the Hunger Games. I don’t even know if the Careers are sleeping, if they’re still hunting us down. How does anybody expect me to get any sleep?! I know that the Careers are after me. Hell, they might already just be on their way up here as I’m thinking it. What the hell, might a well just invite them for breakfast while they’re here, right? I look over at Talon and I can tell he fell asleep during his watch. Damn it, Talon! What if somebody had attacked us?! I can’t be too grumpy with him…he did after all save my life last night. I let that go pretty soon as I put more woods on the fire that’s almost burned down.

As the wood starts to catch fire and the woods collide with each other, Talon awakens. He flinches as he sees me working on the fire. “Well, hello there, sleeping beauty! Did you sleep well?” I ask him as sarcastically as I possibly can. He was supposed to keep watch after the first few hours. I actually managed to stay awake you know. He uses his sword to get up on his feet. “I slept rather well, Feisty.” He answers without saying much further. I know he heard my sarcasm…it’s impossible to ignore that.

I put my hands over the fire as it starts to burn properly. Sleeping in here hasn’t exactly been a comfortable experience, whether it comes to comfort or temperature. It’s cold yeah, but I suppose it could’ve been so much worse if it wasn’t for the fire. Talon comes back with a pile of snow to melt over the fire. I do love my water these days. Well, who doesn’t in this bloody Arena? The melting snow reminds me of the ice-bag Talon put above my ankle last night. I look to my ankle right away and pull the ice-bag, well now it’s just a sappy bag. The swelling is basically gone! I try to stand up and walk around. Okay, whatever that ice-bag did during the night, it totally worked!

“How is that ankle feeling?” Talon then asks me as he sees me walking around. I’m not limping anymore! I sit down in front of the fire and let the fire warm me some more. “It feels a lot better than yesterday.” I answer as take on my sock and shoe. “So you think you can handle some walking today?” He asks me. Hm, walking…what does he have in mind? “I think I might be…what are you plotting, Talon?” I then ask him as I take a bite from some of the bread and soup from yesterday. “I was just thinking that if we got to a higher ground, we could get a good look at the Arena, and if we’re lucky, find out where the Careers are.” He suggests. Okay, that’s not actually a bad idea. I guess I can’t walk around calling him brainless anymore.

“Then I suggest we get going. The sun seems to have been up for a while already. We can’t waste too much daylight before the landslides come back again.” I manage to point out. Hah, there you go! I’m a smartass too! Talon nods in agreement. “That’s a good point.” He says. We grab our backpacks, put the fire out and climb up that pile of snow by the entrance. Already at the entrance of the cave, we get a clear view on the landscape of the Arena. Holy crap, this is a God forsaken place! The wind is still blowing up here, but it’s not as cold and harsh as last night. To our right, I spot a path that appears to be going to higher ground and we both agree to walk by it.

So here’s a teeny tiny problem: I thought my ankle was well enough for this walking, but apparently it isn’t. That climb out of the cave didn’t do much good, and trying to get down from it was even worse. I decide not to mention it to Talon as I don’t want to give him a reason to lay me off already now. The path is rather steep and we need to take several breaks before we reach the top, sort of…well, it’s high enough if you ask me. It’s even colder up here than by the cave. The first thing I do as I get up there, is trying to catch my breath. We don’t have these ‘monsters’ back home so you can tell I’m not used to this kind of walking. As I manage to stand up straight, that’s when I see it: the Arena. And I thought the labyrinth at the start was bad enough. I mean, that was badshit crazy, but this…this is even worse!