The Hunger Games: Call of The Mockingjay

Chapter Three: Let the Hunger Games begin!

-Louis Mellark-

60... What am I going to do?

59... There is a mountain by my side.

58... Maybe there is something there.

57... I could climb there.

56... Where is the Cornucopia?

55... I look at May.

54... I try to see further from us.

53... I figure out the arena.

52... What's my plan?

51... My gaze meets with May's.

50... Don't do it, May.

49... Don't go to the Cornucopia.

48... Stay safe.

47... And a mine goes off.

46... I scream. "May!"

45... She's just as startled as I am.

44... Looking around, I feel lost.

In a blink of an eye, the final coundown is starting.

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Then I hear it.

"Let the 25th Hunger Games X begin!"

I let my breath out. I hadn't noticed I was holding it.

I turn to May. "Don't go to the Cornucopia. Stay safe."

She nods and climbs up a tree.

I move towards the Cornucopia.  As I get to the Cornucopia, I take my sword out, in case I'm attacked.

After a couple minutes, I arrive. The Cornucopia is not like I expected it to be. It is a tower. I wonder, how am I supposed to get there. Then it hits me. I have to climb...I have to climb! As I scan my surrounding, I see a small crate. Inside, something calls my attention. A flag.

I carefully remove it, hoping it's not a trap. As nothing happens, I sight in relief. I can imagine my parents and brothers watching this. I can't let them down. I have to return to them.

I slowly unfold the flag. It's hand-painted Mockingjay. On one of the edges, there is a piece of paper.

To free the prisoners from their trasparent cage, you must light the spark that will make the clock tick and bring forth the past, separate from the tyrants' wrath.

To mend the bond of those you have lost, remember the grounds in which you lay your feet and recall  the song that once set them free.

I scowl as I read. What is this supposed to mean? Of all that I could find, a riddle... A riddle that leaves me speechless. But there's no way to know to whom it was directed. Oh, no. I examine the edge of the paper.

To the son of the True Spark.

That just can't be. But I slowly notice. The true purpose might be... to throw my off balance. I have to climb! I put the note in my pocket and jump into a vine.

By when I manage to get there, I see the boy from District Three arrived first. I hadn't seen him nearing. He quickly notices me, and draws his sword. He's shivering, clearly afraid of me. After all, I'm the son of two victors. Perhaps it's natural to fear me.

Although I don't want to harm him, I draw my own sword. In a panic attack, he lunges against me. I duck, and he gasps. It takes me a few moments to take the sword off his hand. He hesitates before attacking me. He tries to punch me, but I easily dodge. However, a blow hits me in the cheek, throwing me off balance.

I can feel my nose swell as I straighten up. The boy I determined on attacking me. He throws himself at me again. He tackles me, but I manage to score a blow to his head. He is shaking.

As he stands up, his knees quiver visibly. Suddenly he is falling backwards of the Cornucopia. I gasp. I didn't mean to kill him. The last traces of his scream vanish as a cannon fires. He's dead, but I didn't mean to. The first kill in the Games belongs to me.

I stare at my reflection in the blade of my sword, and pin my nose. I can't let it bleed. May would be distraught. So after a couple seconds I allow myself to slide down a vine. I examine the Cornucopia. The tower resembles an ancient shack. Its windows are sealed, though. It probably is the only way into whatever it holds besides that balcony.

I see the boy on the ground. I lean and close his eyes before cutting down the vines, leaving just a couple for climbing. Just like my mother was safe in that tree when she was here, we can be safe inside the Cornucopia. Except we would not have the hunger problem. All supplies in the Cornucopia would be hours. But I have to do this fast.

I run towards our entry point and see May on top of that tree, just where she was when I left. She starts climbing down, when I hear a slight shatter. I walk towards her, but something entangles with my foot. Next thing I know is a nearby tree falls while May struggles to cut the string that holds me. The tree suddenly catches on fire.

May finally cuts the string and we sprint to the Cornucopia. I feel as if I were replaying my parent's Games just as they told me they had been. Except nothing will keep us both from surviving.

I slice all vines except one tied to a window. That will be our way in. Then I'll cut the vine. I wonder why the Careers haven't gotten here yet. I think of the forest fire, maybe even of a decoy Cornucopia. It would be hilarious. That, of course, were I not here.

I stare at May, who stands behind me. The fire on the background makes her look even more beautiful, just as the dress Barbara made her for the interviews. We start climbing up the vine, when a loud rumbling. The Careers.

Just as we were, they are escaping from the fire. The girl from District Four tosses her knife towards us, but we evade the hit by swinging the vine. I think it through. What if that knife had hit us or cut the vine. Then I reconsider. A cut could keep the Careers away from us.

I help May climb above me and slice the vine under us. We slam against the wall of the tower. It's going to be harder to climb, but the Careers themselves won't be able to get us. As May climbs through the window, I slice the vine under our feet. I had not realized what the cut would cause.

 I swing against the hard stone of the tower.

As I climb up the vine the boy from district 4 grabs me. I slowly start swinging to make him fall, but it's no use. I kick him but he grabs his knife and he stabs my left foot. I kick him in the face, breaking his nose. He lets go and falls besides his allies.

"You better watch your back, otherwise you'll be dead by the the first 12, tribute boy" he wipes his blood and rapidly runs away.

"May, see what you can find to heal my cut." I say as I sit down. I start making a fire. I hold a knife tighly. I just know that back home my mom should be crying her life out, just pure depressed. Since I cut the vines, no one can climb up. I grab some weird colorless ball full of a strange liquid, called gasoline. We pour a little of it in the fire. It sparks before us as if it had fed the fire.

"Here, have some of this." May says while she oints me with a white cream.

"We should get some rest, don't you think?" I look at her while taking a deep breath.

"We should, here have a sleeping bag."

I lay down, but as I turn to her, she's crying. "Louis..."

I place my index finger on my lips. "Shh... I'll get us out of here."

I give her a faint smile. "I promise."