The 150th Annual Hunger Games

Death Toll (Day Six)

Scarlett Salasi's P.O.V. (D7)

"Hurry up, you guys!" Kara calls from the darkness up ahead, "I think we've lost them!"

"Okay!" Ace answers, but none of us bother to speed up our walking. This hunt was just for fun, to get out and do something for once. Kara is taking it way too seriously, obviously eager for more kills.

We walk along the river until we enter the woods, at which point, we've completely lost Kara. Ace, Elsa, and Fynn don't seem to take notice to this fact, so I pretend I didn't either. I hope she stays lost and forgets how to get back to the cornucopia.

"Where'd that little twit run off to?" Elsa mutters, squinting her eyes in an attempt to see through the darkness.

A bloodcurdling scream causing us all to freeze in our steps. The scream sliced through the quiet, forest air with ease, giving us reason to be alarmed. Ace has a card in his hand the second we heard the scream. Elsa and Fynn also pull out their weapons, so I do too.

Next, we hear footsteps pounding on the leaves in the direction of the scream. Then a chilling howling starts up, which makes us all think the same thing.

Mutts.

"Run!" Kara screams, crashing into me. I feel blood smear against my arm when she slams into me, knocking me onto the ground. She doesn't even help me back up. Instead, she starts sprinting at break-neck speed to get out of the forest. I didn't expect her to help anyways, cause that's just who she is. At least she had the mind to tell us to run.

Ace grabs my arm and drags me to my feet saying, "You okay?"

I nod, then my eyes widen when I see the most horrid, deformed, wolf-like creature enter the clearing behind Ace. It opens its mouth in a growl, revealing a yellow set of razor teeth as saliva dribbles from it's fangs. Its eyes are red and narrowed, its sharp ears flattened against its skull.

"Ace, look out!" I point to the creature, just before it charges at us, leaping into the air.

Instinctively, Ace dives onto me, flattening us against the ground as the creature soars over us. It hits the ground with a yelp just inches from our heads.

"Come on!" Elsa calls from a distance, "Get up, hurry!"

Ace and I scramble to our feet and take off sprinting after Elsa. Although it's pitch black out, we can easily find Elsa because her whitish-blonde hair almost glows in the dark. She waits for us beside a tree, beckoning us hastily with her hands. When we reach her, we don't stop. She follows close behind us, reminding us that the mutt is right on our tails.

"You think?!" Ace shouts back.

"There's two of them now! Hurry!" Elsa screams, panicked.

"Where's Fynn?!" I ask, realizing he's missing.

"He went after Kara!" Elsa replies.

Suddenly, Elsa screams, and I hear a thud. Ace and I turn around, finding Elsa pinned to the ground by one of the mutt-wolves. A second later, I see a throwing-card implanted in the creature's neck. It let's out I high-pitched whine, followed by a whimper, before collapsing dead on top of Elsa. She grunts a she tries to lift the mutt off her body. Ace runs over to help, leaving me to deal with the second wolf.

It bounds into the clearing, it's red eyes flashing in the little light the moon sheds off. I load a throwing-knife into my hand from my pocket, my hands shaking from the adrenaline.

I take a step closer to the oncoming mutt, then spin around to put more force into my throw before I release the knife, sending it sailing through the air without even a spin on it from the speed. The knife buries itself in between the wolf's eyes, splattering black blood all over the thing's face and matted fur.