The New Games: A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 31: Allies

Chapter 31:

I dreamt about Talon last night. He was all I could think about. I dreamt about us back in his house, making those blueberry pancakes, going out to the small beach, laying in the field, watching the sunset, looking at the stars. I wish I could have that back.

But I can't focus on that right now. I have to try and find a way out of here. I gather up my things and pack up my backpack, then I move away the stone and try to climb up the tunnel. I place my hands an feet on some of the stone that is slightly raised from the walls of the tunnel. I get a little further than halfway up and then it becomes too steep.

I'm about to climb down but then I hear footsteps. I lean closer to the wall, listening. I hear someone walking, climbing over the rocks, then I hear a swoosh, a thud, and then I hear someone speak.

"Ah, ow!" he says. "Stupid rocks." he mutters as he gets back up.

I recognize the voice.

"Talon." I quietly say to myself.

I get excited for a second.

"Talon!"

The footsteps hesitate, then keep going.

"Talon!" I say louder.

The footsteps completely stop.

"Hello?" he says. "Who's here? Where are you?"

"Down here!" I say. "Talon, is that you?"

"Yes." he pauses. "Who is this?"

"Oh, Talon! It's me, Kamela!" I say excitedly. "Down here! Under the rock!"

I can here him come closer.

"Careful!" I warn him. "It's steep, you'll fall right down."

"I'll be careful." he says.

I'm still hanging on to the wall of the tunnel and I'm losing my grip. As I'm looking down, adjusting my grip it gets noticeably darker. Immediately I look up to see a figure looking down on me.

"Kamela?" The figure asks.

"Talon?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's me." he looks up then back down at me. "Man, how did you get down there?"

"I fell." I say, losing my grip. "I'm trying to get back up, but I can't."

"Here I'll come down."

"No!" I say stopping him. "Don't, you'll be trapped too."

He doesn't say anything and then he grabs something from behind him.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Here, go back down." he says. "I'll secure this rope here. We can use it later to climb back up."

"Okay." I say as I climb back down.

Once I reach the bottom, he already has the rope secure.

"Make sure to conceal it!" I tell him.

"Yep! Already got that covered." he responds.

I look up at him and he's lowering himself down the tunnel, holding on to the rope.

"Hey." he says smiling once he reaches the bottom of the tunnel and into the cave.

"Hi." I don't hesitate to hug him, I run up to him and hug him as tight as I can. He hugs me back.

"I missed you." I say. "So much."

"Me too." he says, hugging me tighter. "I just wish that here wouldn't be our reunion place."

"I know." I back away from our hug.

"So you got a backpack." he states.

"Yeah." I say. "It's great, a lot of useful things in here."

"Here." he holds out his hand.

I give him the backpack and I show him what's in it, explaining the glasses the most. In return he shows me what he has. First he tells me about the rope, then shows his belt, which has many ways of holding things securely, his knives, all five, and lastly he shows that he also got a map.

"I wonder how many maps there are of this arena." I say.

"I don't know, I guess it could range from two to twenty-four." he responds.

"So, do we have any plans?" I ask

"Like what?" he asks back.

"Like, what we're going to do." I say. "I'm assuming that we're allies."

He nods in response.

"Are we going to just sit in here for the entire games, go and find a different shelter, kill some people?" I ask.

"We're going to have to go out for food and water and all that." he pauses. "We should also move from time to time. I'm assuming that the Capitol is going to make us move by force if we don't explore on our own."

"Yeah." is all I say.

I know what he means. The gamemakers won't like that we will just be sitting here perfectly fine. They want to make this a challenge, they want us to suffer.