Let the 25th Hunger Games Begin

Boom Boom Boom

The anthem's familiar tune rings throughout the arena, echoing everywhere. I tilted my head up to the sky and saw the Tributes images come up. There was the first image of a boy, who must have been the one the GameMakers or the Arena killed. The next one is a seventeen year old girl, who I recognise as Cristina from District 11. She was brilliant at sword fighting, but that was as much as I knew. Finally, the boy we attacked shows up on the screen. I try shake it off, but I cannot.
'Rest in peace...' I whisper, wrapping the blanket around me tighter, and making sure Madeline was warm. Her temperature was stable, which was good. I eagerly watch the replays. The first is of Cristina, running away from the Career pack. Finally, a axe finishes her. It is hard to watch, but I do. I notice that there are four people in that group, Keil, Cydney, Sparkle- the terrible names that they have- and Geeir, from 3, the technology District. Yeah. They were both great scoreres, Sparkle with a nine and Geeir with a 8. The second video is of Madeline hitting the boy, him falling in a pool of his own blood, and shows me screaming, my face red with tears as Maddy falls to the floor. That was good drama.

The sun rose and I started the day early. I woke Maddy and she started reluctantly preparing breakfast.
'I can hunt for animals, please, I'm brilliant with a bow and spear!' She pleaded, but I forced her to stay put. I cleaned my knifes and set off hunting. Before I left, Maddy grabbed my hand.
'Be careful, okay?' She asks.
'I will. Besides, some little animals can't hurt me.' I laugh. I turned towards the river and walked against it, knife at the ready.

After a while, a crinkling from the leaves alerts me. I crouch and spot a squirrel. I can't. I can't. But I could. I had too. I reluctantly threw the knife, silencing the animal. I waited a bit, then stood up and walked over to my kill, stepping over a broken branch. I grabbed the furry body. Hm. It was a fat squirrel. All I needed was a few berries and I could try replicate a dish that I once ate back at the Training Ceremony. It consisted of a round platter of dried fruits with a pile of rice in the centre. In the centre was a round, glazed round piece of meat- I can't remember the name of it. I wonder if I can replicate it for dinner. There was no rice here, that was for sure. Maybe for Kelf, if there was any around here. The fruits we could cut up and let them dry, and we could try cook some rabbit- when I catch one. Maybe that can be tomorrow's dinner. Tonight's was cooked squirrel with bread. I turn to walk the 500 meters back to the camp, and spot something white and fluffy. A rabbit. I crouched again and took my aim... And missed. I dropped to the ground and my head was full of memories. Rabbits. My brother had loved them. They frolicked around the plain hills of District 8. Rabbits reminded me of my family. Mum loved them. Dad loved them. How could I kill one? Eating one last night, well, it was already dead.

I stood up, shaking and retrieve my knife and head back to the camp. Before I reach Madeline I hit a plump... Animal. It was like a ball, and looked like a rock when rolled up. It was easy to see, as this one was moving. I show Maddy my kills and she laughs in joy.
'Perfect! I'll just take the squirrel and cook it, and that we can have tomorrow night.' As she grabs the squirrel, she hesitates and her eyes water. This only happens for a second though, and she tosses it onto the hot coals. Little smoke was emitting from it. I sit there, tired. How many were dead? 15, I count. Wow. In the fourth day.

'Here, eat up. You're shaking.' She tells me. I look down and see that I am. I am faintly pale and slightly trembling. Madeline passes me something round, skin coloured and hard. It was-
'Eggs!' I exclaim. Madeline nods.
'I found two in a nest. Here, use the knife to break a hole, then suck out the insides.' I follow her instructions and eat up the delicious gooey mess. Some covers Maddy's face, and I start laughing. She wipes it off and smiles, too. I proceed to take some of the bread she hands me, smothered in pink goo- berries. I sniff them. Like raspberries.
'Hey Maddy, what berries did you put on here?' I ask. She shrugs.
'Fat round ones- haven't tried them yet.' I look closer at the jam. It had... Green seeds. Oh god. Oh god.
'No!' I yell, slapping the bread out of her hand before she could eat the bread. She looks at me strangely, then reads my expression.
'Trailer...' She mutters. Trailer was a berry that paralysed you, but didn't kill you. But you could not be cured, and it was impossible to move at all. You would die of hunger and dehydration in days. I quickly grabbed the bread loaf, which Madeline had filled with the berries.
'Abigail... I am so sorry-' she starts, but I cut her off.
'It's not your fault.' I say, throwing the bread into the stream
'Yes it is, Abigail. I could have killed us.' We end the conversation there. I watch her peel the squirrel and we have that with half an apple each. It was almost as good as a full meal at home. We only had an apple left, some walnuts, heaps of Kelf Madeline found, the animal I caught and some water food wise.We sat there that day, waiting for who knows what. Madeline to recover, someone to attack, anything.

It was the rumbling that startled us. It was early the next morning, the fifth night in the Arena. 6:30, I guessed. 6:30. The rumbling was loud, stones were shaking. I turned to wake Madeline, but she was already standing with her spear.
'The Arena...' I gasp.
'It's about time,' She breathes. 'Shove the stuff in the bag, now.' I am confused. 'NOW!' She shouts. I shove the sleeping bag, bow and arrows, second spear, my knifes, the filled water our food and the medicine into the sack.
'Let's run.' She suggests sarcasticly. That was when the ground shifted. We were going down. The stream shook, the water out of control. I realised it wasn't a stream. The barrier around it, the border of the Arena reflected the water, making the never ending ocean look like a petite river. But there was land, 100 meters away, that was still raised, unaffected. We bolted. Faster than we ever did. The branches and rocks pelted against my ripped vest and pulled on my hair. 50 meters away. Madeline was ahead, wearing the orange pack. She reached the dirt "wall" while I was still running. It was almost two meters high. She paused, then dug her boot into the wall and heaved herself up. I reach the wall and notice that it is slightly curved. I also notice water rushing to my feet, and the wall rising to above two meters. I look up at Madeline, her mattered hair covering her worried face. I quickly fiddle with the strap that held the bag to me and threw it to the top.

It was getting lower and lower, what I was standing on.
'Abigail!' Madeline shouts. I look to my left to see a tree against the wall, sinking with me. I rush up to it and climb the branches, Madeline cheering me on. I wasn't too far away. The water was now roaring at my feet. I reach up to the top of the dirt ledge, grabbing onto Madeline. We both grinned. That was when the branch beneath me snapped. I was yanked down by gravity, still hanging on because of Madeline. She cried in pain. I screamed in terror. The water was rising faster and faster- it could take me at any second. My dangling feet found a hold, my scrambling fingers holding onto the edge. A rock the skin at my knee. I close my eyes and clenched my teeth. I shakily raise the wounded foot onto the rock that cut me, then raise myself up. I feel Maddy tug me, and I fall forwards, onto the land. Onto the dirt. Onto safety. We lay there, panting, heaving, analysing the situation. My cheeks burned red and were drenched in sweat.

It was after an hour when Madeline finally spoke.
'It has layers.' She panted. I didn't respond. 'Each around 100 meters into the circle....Every two days... at 6 am, a new layer goes down.'
'Engulfing those... Who can't escape... In water... And making the Arena smaller and smaller.' I sigh, staring at the "sun".
'Boom, boom, boom.' I utter.

Author's Note-

Wow! Resources are low, Madeline is still ill, they have figured out the secrets if the arena! Exciting- and guess who will come into the picture in the next chapter?
A new ally, a few new enemies and a whole lot of action in the 6th day of The Hunger Games. 8 more to go down... But how long will it take? Comment please!

Please read my other books- Minecraft In Real Life (hunger games minecraft), and 101 Stupid Inventions. Also- check out Zozoeebo and ChloeColly, my amazing friends and readers for some awesome Harry Potter and Hunger Games stories!

😜😝, Alix