Hopeless

Chapter 5 - E in the Games

ToBreathAgain, the fifth fan. A book fanned me. I'm honored. :)

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Before I can think about my scenery, what Annie first said directly to me right after the reaping runs through my mind. I mumble it aloud without realizing.

"Well, well. E in the games."

Thankfully, the other tributes are too far away to hear me.

I take my first good look at the group around me. They're all staring eagerly at the goods in the cornucopia. I take in the cornucopia itself, some of it shadowed and other parts gleaming in the sun. The tributes are all positioning themselves to run. There's no way I'll be able to get anything out of the bloodbath. Thankfully, there are other, slightly less useful items closer to me. I set my sights on a black backpack and a few knives. Hopefully, the pack will have some food and water bottles in it. If not, i'm going to have to steal some from the other tributes.

I look at the actual scenery now, since I have about thirty seconds left. It's all woods. That surprises me. Usually, if there's a forest, it doesnt cover the whole arena. I'm now very glad I spent time in the woods, even if it was barely any. It's still better than none at all. Jackson won't do half as well as me here. I turn my attention back to the backpack.

The gong goes off. I sprint for the backpack, scooping up some knives as I run. I don't hear anything but the blood pounding in my head. As soon as I grab the backpack, I immediately turn and run as far as I can from the Cornucopia. A few knives fly by me, but none of them actually hit me, and no one really seems to care that I'm getting away. The one good thing about my size is that no one bothers to try and kill a smaller girl, no matter how good her score is. Unless she got a twelve. But what's the chance of that happening?

Once i get far enough away that the sounds of fighting aren't audible anymore, i slow down to a jog, then a walk. i don't run into any tributes, so i figure this is a good time to look through my bag.

I unzip it and peer inside. A water bottle. Some crackers. Iodine. A metal slingshot. A thin sleeping bag, colored in a way that the bottom looks like light filtering through a tree's branches and the top look like the ground. It has a hood to pull over my head, too.

I grin and zip it back up. If it rains, ill be having some wet nights, but that's fine by me.

I remember something from training. I hear one of the survival station teachers again, telling me about how I can't last very long without water. Maybe a week. I hoist my backpack onto my back and go out in search of water. There's surely some, otherwise these games would be way too short for Capitol tastes.

I walk quickly, wanting to find water as soon as possible so I can focus on the next part of the games: hiding from the others so I won't die. I hear a branch crack and immediately hit the ground. I hear a quiet laugh, then a soft voice.

"Eleanor?"

I glance over, the voice familiar. It takes me a second to recognize the blonde girl. It's Chalice, the girl from 3. I give her a half-smile and stand up slowly, not sure if she's going to try to hurt me. She walks over to me, completely at ease.

"I thought you died in the bloodbath! I saw you run in, but I left to fast too see you leave."

I laugh softly. "Being small does have it's advantages. No one wants to waste their time on a small girl from 12, when they know I'm not going to win anyway."

Chalice grins at me. She doesn't seem like she's going to want to hurt me. "So, I'm guessing we're allies?"

"Yep," I reply, popping the p. "We're definitely allies."

She grins at me, and we start walking. We don't really talk, since we don't want the careers to find us, but I can tell that our plans are the same: hide unless it's impossible and avoid all fighting.

The cannons start to go off. We stop walking, and I count the number dead in my head. Eight shots go off in all. Not a huge amount for the bloodbath, but large enough. Eight children dead, and other children are their murderers. I close my eyes and will myself not to cry or scream. When I open them again, Chalice has an expression similar to the one I think I have.

When it's night, I pull out my sleeping bag and climb up into a tree. It's the best plan I have for avoiding the careers at night. The sleeping bag is plenty big for both Chalice and I, so when I get it adjusted we both sleep in it, above the ground. I set it on a fairly thickly branchy section, so if we sleep until light starts to come through no one will notice the shadow it casts that easilly.

Chalice goes to sleep rather quickly, but I stay up to see who died. Soon enough, the anthem starts to play. The little girl from 1 died already. So did both tributes from 6 and 7, the girl from 8, the girl from 10, and the boy from 11. I'm so tired, I don't cry over their deaths. I just roll over and go to sleep as the seal of Panem projected on the sky fades out.

The next morning, one look between Chalice and I shows that we know finding water is now out most important task. She climbs down from the tree while I roll up the sleeping bag. I stuff it back in my backpack and climb out of the tree carefully, knowing from experience how long it takes to recover from a twisted ankle.

We walk silently, searching for lakes or rivers. For springs. Even for a single muddy puddle. There's nothing. I grit my teeth and keep walking, ignoring the dehydration that's already starting to get to me. I can tell Chalice is tired, but she doesn't call for a break, probably not nwanting to feel like the weak link. We search most of the day, eating one or two of our precious crackers as we go. There's no water anywhere.

Eventually, hunger really sets in. I don't want to eat any more of the crackers, so I call for a break. Chalice sits while I collect the most jagged rocks I can find and stick them into the backpack's front pocket. They'll serve as ammo for my slingshot. I hand Chalice a knife and head out to go attempt to hunt down some sort of animal to eat, or at least collect some plants.

"Stay here. Guard yourself. If any rabbits or anything come near, stab it. Same for tributes."

She nods, the usual cheerful joy in her eyes gone and replaced with fear. I leave her behind to go look.

Trees, trees, trees. Mockingjay calls. But no game. I do find some berries, but check them carefully and find out they're poisonous. I feel like screaming, but I don't, not wanting to scare away the game. Why couldn't I have learned to track? Now I'm going to have almost no chance of getting meat. I punch the tree closest to me, scraping my knuckles. I wince, but don't bother wiping off my pant legs on anything. I just sit there, thinking, when I hear a twig snap.

I see one rabbit, standing there,chocked that someone else is near. I shoot it without thinking. On closer inspection, I see it's mouth is wet, like it drank water recently. I groan, annoyed that I hadn't thought to follow it to try and find a water source. I do a quick scan, but don't see any water sources nearby, so I give up quickly. I'm hot, tired, and just want to go to eat some rabbit and go to bed. I pick up the rabbit and head back to where I left Chalice. I'm walking, until I hear the scream.