Into the Flames [Watty Awards 2012]

Chapter 34

I watched as Waterlily rose into the arena of grass. The few seconds that the camera was watching her, she was scanning the tributes. She eyed the small tribute from seven who stood across from her. I hope she’s not planning on killing her in the bloodbath. It seemed like eternity until the gong sounded and the tributes leaped off the plates. Waterlily goes straight for the cornucopia, but I only saw her in the corner of the camera. I could only guess she was getting a spear. The camera focused on a big boy that I think was from District Nine. He held a knife that he had grabbed from the outskirts of the cornucopia area. He held it like an axe and was running with a small group of tributes. He was with another boy that looked a lot like him, the little girl from Seven, and another girl. The other girl started to stray from the group, going for a backpack a few yards away. Suddenly she fell down, a knife stuck in her leg. The camera turned and I could see Ethelreda chucking knives at the tributes. Seven tributes fell down, before Ethelreda went to retrieve her knifes from the three tributes that she killed. Four of the tributes stood back up and ran in the opposite direction, one falling on the way to another knife. The camera zoomed out. Tributes lay dying everywhere. I searched the bodies for Waterlily’s, but before I found it, I saw her pop out on the screen. She was carrying a small set of knives and a spear. She bent down and grabbed a backpack. I could see Ethelreda point to the cornucopia. Waterlily went over to the cornucopia and put down the supplies and weapons, gathering the surrounding ones into a pile. Six tributes were still at the cornucopia, all the careers. The group from One, River, and Waterlily gathered supplies piling them on the cornucopia, while Ethelreda fought her district partner. The fight didn’t last long before he fell down, dead. Ethelreda retreated into the cornucopia, motioning the others inside. The scene changed, showing the group of tributes Ethelreda had almost killed, running toward a line of trees. They were slow, but that seemed to be doing fine for having knives in their skin. Finally, they stopped running and one tribute presented a backpack. They pulled out a water bottle, ointment of some kind, and a roll of bandages. They pulled the knife out of the leg of one of their alliance member’s leg and wrapped it up. They continued through the group, until they ran out of bandages.

I started to wonder weather of not Waterlily had killed or wounded any of the tributes and how she was making out. Jared pulled me closer to his body, but stayed silent. I glanced over at Willow. She had her hands bunched up into fists, her eyes fearfully looking at the screen. I looked up at Jared. He looked down at me, “It will be fine Mist. Waterlily will be safe.”

I nodded and turned back to the screen. She will be safe.