The 25th Annual Hunger Games: 1st Quarter Quell

Chapter 21: The Games: The Enemies

Hello Guys!! 

The morning arrived. The sun showed up. It’s the day after the bloodbath.

Still having a painful wound, Julius got up and saw Serena and greeted her. Serena gave him a simple smile and hugged him.

“I’m going to hunt today. You better stay here.”

“..No. You’re not going to hunt alone.”

“I have to Julius, besides you’ll only be in my way. You’re wounded remember?”

“But I…”

“I’ll come back. By the way, I wanted to talk to you about something. You know how very dire our position’s in right now right? But we have to move forward, or else we don’t have the chance to win, to get out alive, even if it’s just one of us. So, I accept the alliance.”

“Well that’s…” Before Julius could finish, Serena told him “Only after you get better.”

“What…?”

“I just can’t leave you in your condition right now or my conscience will bug me forever. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to kill you. So after you get better, I’ll leave. Please understand”

A brief moment of silence has passed before Julius answered.

“No.”

“But, please Julius…”

“Not until after I get better, but after the numbers of the Careers and the other competitors have been decreased. Please Serena. I can still fight with this wound. I have a strong stamina.”

“…Okay then. I accept.”

“Good.”

They hugged each other deeply before Serena teasingly said, “It’s not your stamina, that’s why your wound’s a bit better. The medicine’s effective.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not the best that the Capitol can offer but the pain’s reduced that’s for sure.”

“You just rest it up, in a few days or so, your wound’s fully healed.”

“Oh, uh, say Julius.”, she continued.

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry about everything I’ve done before this. And just like as you said, I love you Julius.”

Then unexpectedly, something soft sounded as if something landed on a branch nearby. They looked at it and saw a silver parachute with a note and a cheap but effective medicine. The note said, “USE IT WISELY. THOUGH CHEAP IN THE EYES OF THE CAPITOL, IT’S USEFUL IN VERY DIRE SITUATION ESPECIALLY IN WOUNDS AND CUTS”

With the note, the two tributes realized that the message was from Oak, and the cheap medicine would prove to be helpful for Julius’s wound. She applied it gently to the wound and waited for a few hours until the medicine took effect. It’s already late in the afternoon. It is the perfect time to hunt since Julius was better.

Julius still has a weapon of specialty, a spear. He readied it to be used in the hunt that afternoon since the food in Serena’s pack were almost out. For Serena however, she has Kristy’s knife that she threw over her but blocked it. She also got a bag full of throwing knives almost identical to the knives thrown by the tribute from District 2. And she has another weapon. Unfortunately it’s not the specialty weapon of the young girl. It’s not an axe. But it’s still a weapon. A sickle. A small one. Though a knife would be helpful, a sickle would be too.

She place the bag of knives around her waist and ties a strong rope around her back. She placed her sickle there. The two of them got out of the cave and hunted, though not far away from each other.

Serena saw a young dear nearby and told Julius that she will it with her knife though she needs to get closer. It was a few meters away so Julius allowed her to go. She left Julius who was also hunting small animals.

She got near the doe and she was about to throw her knife at it, the young doe seemed to have sensed something and took off running.

Then suddenly came the female tribute from District 12 who had survived. She seemed a lot different then from how she was in the parade and in the interviews. She was running and she was tired. But before she could run again, she was shot by an arrow in her thigh, rendering her unable to move. The shot came from the beautiful Ivory of District 1. Then she heard the other careers talking. “You shoot better than your partner but sufficient enough.” “I’ll be the one to kill her, got it Felix.” “It should be Ivory. She was the one who shot it, got it 4.” “It’s not the time to fight. There’s just a few of them left. Just kill her already and let’s go.”

Serena was careful of not making any sound, as she horridly seen what the Careers did to that female tribute. The careers left. They left the dying tribute who was about to die in seconds. What kind of enemies did she make? What kind of monsters were attacking her? How will they kill her if ever? Painfully, perhaps. And to top it all of, they are still complete and more than half of the remaining tributes are Careers.

The Careers versus them. Six strong, trained careers against Serena, Julius, Vance, and that smart cunning tribute.

Just a few moments have passed until the Careers left the area, the dying tribute stopped breathing. Her eyes have tears falling. Then the cannon sounded.  The tribute was dead.

Author's Note:

So ummm hello guys!!! Thank you for continuing to read my work. The chapter discussed how formidable enemies are the Careers. But there is a story that will soon come out. There are 6 of them against 2 tributes: Serena and Julius. How can the two tributes win against those Careers? In a few chapters, it will be revealed. Anyways, I originally planned to have the next chapter to be a discussion among the gamemakers, some sort of filler. But I changed my mind. Next week's release is titled as Separation. Julius and Serena are separated and an enemy threatens Serena's life.