The Hunger Games (Writing Contest) [CLOSED]

Ember's Version

↠↠↠ Midnight_Writer17 ↞↞↞

"I'm hungry."

That stupid phrase has been repeated over and over again amongst the group, which has started to annoy me quite a lot. It only reminded me of the growing pang of hunger in my stomach, which made me even more hungry than I already was.

Unfortunately, I, myself, was the one to say it this time.

We were sitting next to a slim brook filling our bottles to the brim with the cold, bubbling water. I had finished filling mine first and was slumped against a tree, my frail hand laid on my small girth. I had my abs pulled in tight to prevent my stomach from growling, but it wasn't working as well as I hoped. Beef jerky isn't as filling as it may look after a while.

Leya looks over at me.

"Don't we have more jerky?" she asks to no one in particular.

Adalyn lowers her head a bit, as if she is feeling my hunger, too.

"Yeah," I say, drawing a picture of an apple in the dirt. "I just am getting sick of it."

"Well get used to it. It's all we got right now," snaps Adalyn.

I clench my jaw. I am not as fond of Adalyn as I am of Seth and Leya. Frankly, she freaks me out. With her every movement, she seems to ham it up for the cameras. I have to say though, it is tempting to believe, and most Capitol citizens would be oblivious to it, but the keen-eyed like me would notice it's all a sick show for favor.

I roll my eyes, a gesture I give a lot to her, which she notices.

"I'm not wrong," she truthfully states.

I make up my mind in an instant and get to my feet, bow in hand. I draw in a breath and stand a bit taller.

"I'm going to get some more food."

"Like hunting?" Seth asks.

"Nah, I'm no good at that. Maybe I can find a tree with some fruit or something to bring back," I say and pivot away from them.

I think Leya shouts something at me, but I don't hear. I am drowned in the rustle of leaves and chirping birds. As usual, Lucelia pops into my head.

Don't worry, hun, I've made it this far. I'm coming home soon, I think.

Coming home would mean killing Adalyn, Seth, and Leya, which makes my stomach clench in a knot. I shoo away the thought.

I am broken out of my thoughts with the sound of a weak scream. I drop down to the ground immediately, my face inches away from the dirt. I grab a knife from the loop of my pants and peer through the thick bushes, my face obscured by the foliage.

There is a little girl, about 13, sitting in a crumpled position under a fruit tree clutching her ankle so hard her knuckles turn white. Thin tears are streaming down her face as she takes in controlled breaths.

Nikaya Johnson.

Under a fruit tree.

My heart skips a beat. There's fresh food hanging from that tree!

I almost tell myself she in no threat but the paranoia inside me says otherwise. I position my bow in my hands and grab an arrow I made out of a stick from the back pocket of my pack. Hopefully, she is in so much pain she doesn't notice me collect the fruit or notice I'm using a freaking stick to defend myself.

I stand up from my place behind the bush and pull back the string of my bow, taking in shaky breaths. I step over the bush and gradually careen my way closer to the fruit tree. She stops whimpering and looks up at me with her dark brown, almost black eyes. They were not filled with pain though.

"P-please help me," she cried. "It hurts..."

My heart softens a bit. I step closer, not lowering my bow.

"Do you at l-east have a brace or something in your bag?" she sniffles and gestures to my pack.

I don't say a word, but the words in my head are screaming.

Shoot her.

My hands start to shake.
"Please! At least don't shoot me!" she lowers her head and covers her lips with her hands.

Shoot her.

I get much closer now and lower my bow a bit so I can get a better look at the girl.

That's when I knew I had made a mistake.

She wasn't just covering her face out of agony. She was suppressing a smile.

In a swift movement, she reaches for her belt loop and latches onto a knife and chucks it at me. I stumble on my own feet in an attempt to get out of the way of the blow. It zips right into my shoulder with a squish.

"Cassia, now!" she screeches, now on her feet, another knife in her hand.

I scream as the pain in my shoulder increases and warm blood seeps rapidly through my jacket. I whip my arm around and pull the knife out so hard it hurts even more. My ankles twitch as I try to get up, but I can't even lift up my upper torso without being met with white-hot pain. Nikaya is screaming at Cassia to 'saw harder' while I scoot myself to the trunk of the tree.

Cassia cheers. Nikaya screams.

I should have shot her.

I regain my senses enough just to see a tracker jacker nest the size of a hay bale plummet to the earth and explode into smithereens. Angry jackers swarm out of their broken cradle at me and at Nikaya. She must not have backed away far enough to watch me die. Serves her right.

I slide up the tree to a standing position, blood trickling so fast out of the wound that the entirety of my shoulder is soaked.

That's when the trackers come.

Since I am the closest, most of them come for me. I run toward Nikaya, who is already covered in multiple stings and is screaming her head off. Searing, itching pain crawls through my shoulder and into my veins. The trackers land on my shoulder and start to sting around my wound, all over my shoulder. They move to my face and sting the cut that I had gotten when a knife grazed my face. They crawl under my clothes and sting my arms and legs.

My whole right arm and shoulder have started to swell and radiate the pain of burning needles. All my senses seem to melt away. All I can see is the hallucinations the venom has put in my brain; orange bubbles, lions, my dead loved ones. All I can hear is Cassia, Nikaya, and my own screams. My mouth tastes like blood and flesh. I must have bit my tongue.  I run as fast and hard as my decrepit body can carry me, but I know I can't hold on much longer. The hallucinations will take me over soon. I don't hear Cassia or Nikaya screaming anymore. They might have died, but I am too busy clawing and screaming at myself to hear their cannons.

Mine might go off soon.

I collapse to my knees, my arms stinging and my legs aching. I can't go any longer.

A beacon of light shines in my eyes. In the light is my sister, Lucelia. She doesn't look sad or worried.

"Ember, please carry on! Just a little bit longer!" she says.

Looking back on it, that was all a hallucination, but my mind was so foggy and losing consciousness that I followed Heavenly Lucelia to a lake of blood, which was really water at the time, but all I saw was a swirling pit of crimson. All I knew is I had to get the remaining tracker jackers off me. I needed to drown them.

Without hesitation, I jump in.

Then the arena goes black.