The Hunger Games

4 More Down (Long chapter)

Just as Zelia reached Shawn and Amy, raising her spear to deliver the death blow, I had a odd flashback.

I was nearly starving, and my parents were too. Layla usually got more food then all three of us combined, but she was starving too. That was when a little boy saved our lives.

I curled up in the backyard of the baker, after having dug through their trash. That was how desperate I was.

Then, a little boy with messy blonde hair walked out of the bakery. Somebody who must have been his mother strolled ahead, and he turned around, noticing me. I saw the sadness cloud his deep blue eyes and he tossed me the loaf of bread he had.

"What?" I ask, sitting up. "Wait! WHO ARE YOU?"

He was gone already though. I heard his mother scream in rage and I heard a loud thud as he hit the sidewalk.

I ran off before she could come back and we had a dinner of loafs of bread.

Oh no. That was...

"SHAWN!" I scream and he turns around, noticing Zelia.

The second he does, he dives on top of Amy. Perfect timing. The little girl, Sue, dives on Zelia's back and tackles her. I realize that she's the tribute from District 5, the electricity district. I can tell by her frizzy (blonde) hair and the lighting bolt painted on her cheek.

Which answers why what happened next happened.

She grabs a coil of wire and presses it onto Zelia's shoulder.

Zelia crumples to the ground, twitching wildly. Letting out a scream of pain, she makes a desperate attempt to live.

Grabbing Sue's leg, she grabs the spear wound and sticks her hand in, widening the open flesh.

Sue lets out a cry of absolute pain and clutches her leg, but it is too late. As the last blood drains out of her leg, her face goes pale and the cannon blows.

"Shawn, Amy!" I cry, leaping out of the tree and leaping towards them.

Shawn grabs me and wraps his arms around me, leaning forward and pressing his forehead onto mine. Amy runs forward and hugs me tightly, sobbing with relief.

I look down at Zelia's unmoving body and nearly laugh, which I regretted the second it crossed my mind.

Cameron raises his dagger and brings it down on her chest.

"Let's go." he says as the blood stains her shirt. "Electrocution doesn't last long, and I don't want to be here when Arthur or whatever his name is finds her."

I'm about to leave but I pause when something drops onto my hand.

I peer at it and see the crimson blood drip on my nail. I gulp and look up to see a pair of yellow eyes looking out of the tree.

"RUN!" I scream as the mountain lion leaps down behind us.

Shawn picks me up and Amy falls slightly behind.

Cameron notices her and picks her up just as the ferocious creature's paw is thrown into right where she had been.

Suddenly, the cat disappears into a bush and the cannon blows.

It drags Cameron's teammate out. At least what had been Cameron's teammate. Blood covered her torso and a scratch aimed at her heart had left a large tear in her shirt. Her red hair is also stained crimson by the blood slowly leaking out of her forehead.

I meet Ash's eye and we both automatically know that a mountain lion had killed the bloody boy from 4.

Our group speeds up and my head starts to spin.

"They're drawing us closer to the other tributes!" I yell. "Or else Zelia would be dead, and so would we. They want a show, and they're about to get one!"

Apparently, I was right. We run into Arnold, who is dragging a limp Zelia on the ground. When he notices us, he lifts her onto his back and starts to sprint away.

Zelia wakes up and Arnold shoves her away just as a arrow enters his neck. Ash narrows her eyes in hatred as the cannon blows, and she grabs her dagger, throwing it into a nearby tree.

The girl from District 7 crashes to the ground, clutching a bleeding hand and Ash runs forward, showing no mercy.

"You. Killed. The. Love. Of. My. Life." Ash said through gritted teeth. "Now I'll kill you."

"No!" the girl screamed. "Please! Don't kill me! I have a famil-"

She was too late to convince Ash. As her pleading eyes met mine, Ash yelled in rage and stuck her dagger into the girls stomach. Dead.

The cannon blows twice and I see the mountain lion retreat into the forest, having done it's duty.

"4 down." I whisper to Shawn, who gently kisses me again.

That night when the anthem plays, four new people pop up.

Arnold Vetti, Sweete Locksi, Kalia Nelson, and Suzanne Coil (appropriate name).

I see Shawn calculating in his head and when he sees my confused expression, he nods in understanding.

"Just figuring out who's dead." he whispers, trying not to wake Amy, who is currently curled up under my arm, snoring. "So far, it's the girl from 6, the boy from 4, both from 11, Jason, the girls from 3 and 5, Arnold, and the girl from 7."

"Wait..." I trail off. "so that means that..."

"There's only 15 people left." Jason finished. "The boys from 6, 5, 3, and 7. The girls from 4, 2, and 1. Of course, there are still districts alive. 12 (us), 8, 9, and 10."

"Then we better stay safe." I say quietly.