Fallen Flower(G.H)

Chapter Seven

The gong rings and I'm off like a shot. I scoop up my bag and it's grabbed by the boy from district ten. He coughs up blood on my face and I stumble back. He's got a knife in his back. I grab it and turn and run. I hear the knife whizzing towards me and hike the bag up to cover my head. It lodges itself in my bag. Thanks for the knives. I run for a while before finding a safe area to hide in. I swing my bag off and look through it. Jerky, crackers, an empty water bottle, a sleeping bag, a pair of glasses, and some water purification drops. I zip it up again and swing it over my back. I stand up and carefully break off the lowest twig, which admittedly is the only one I can reach. I barely crack five feet in most shoes which was nice because it meant I was really light but it also meant I looked like a child sometimes. I start walking again stopping every so once in a while to break off another twig. I feel the ground and sigh in frustration. I need to find water. I've got three days to find water. I keep walking, heading down hill. As night falls I climb up into a tree, I break off another twig at Gales eye line so if he's just walking he'll see it. I find a branch wide enough to hold me and get out my sleeping bag belting myself in with my belt. The anthem starts playing and I watch the dead. The girl from three, the boy from four, the boy from five, both from six, both from seven, the boy from eight, both from nine, and the girl from ten. Eleven dead in just a few hours. I rest my head on my arm and drift off.

I'm woke up by screams and I sit up as much as I can. There's a fire and obviously the careerers are on a hunt.

"Did you hear her scream?" The girl from district two says laughing.

"Shouldn't there have been a cannon?" The boy from district one says.

"She's dead I stuck her myself!" The boy from district two says.

"We're wasting time." The girl from one says. "I'll go back and finish her myself and then we can focus on finding the lovers." She leaves and the other three turn to each other.

"Do you buy it?" The girl asks.

"You saw the way they look at each other Clovey." The boy from her district says gently tugging on her ponytail. It's familiar enough to remind me of Gale.

"Yeah but maybe they're faking it Cat." She says.

"No they're definitely in love." The boy from one shakes his head. "Cato is right clove."

"Now she's dead." The cannon goes off and I bite my lip. They leave and I unbelt my self stuffing my sleeping bag into my bag and starting towards the fire. I pass a squirrel and half a second later I'm carrying it to the fire. I skin and gut it before cooking it over the fire while going through the girls supplies. She doesn't have much but I add her bottle of water to my bag and her dried fruit. She got lucky food wise. I finish cooking the squirrel and stamp out the fire before starting straight forward so if they came back the same way they wouldn't be chasing me. I hurry down the hill going as fast as I can quietly.

The morning dawns and finds me hiking through the woods. I'm still stopping to give Gale a trail to follow but for the most part I'm walking and rationing my water out. If I could just find another water source. By the end of the day my bottle is empty and I climb into a tree. I do the same thing as the night before and watch the deaths for the day. The girl from eight. Half of us are gone already. Gale is still alive, both from one, both from two, the boy from three, the girl from four, the girl from five, the boy from ten, both from eleven, and me. We're halfway there. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

The next day follows like this one went but with no water. I scrape some of the inner bark off a tree and chew it hoping to add some moisture to my mouth. I hike slowly and keep moving. The next day blurs into this one and I know I'm seriously dehydrated. By the time the third day arrives I'm stumbling through the woods and trip into some mud. Mud is great. It has so many purposes. Mud means water. Mud means water! I scramble through it and fall into the pond. I force myself not to gulp it down and fill both water bottles adding two drops to each of them. I wait the thirty minutes and sip one of them until it's empty. I refill it as I drink the other. I refill it and place both of them in my bag. I'm already feeling much better and search for a tree. I shove my bag into my sleep bag and belt myself in before falling asleep.

I'm woken by a wall of fire. I unbelt myself quickly and shove my belt into my sleeping bag jumping out of the tree and sprinting away from it. I'm flying over fallen trees and keeping up with the animals. A flaming tree falls in my way and I divert quickly. I could fall into a pit of vipers next. A hissing sound appears and a fireball shoots at me. I jump out of the way and scramble up trying to escape as quickly as I can. I'm getting tired, I can feel it. I run and dive out of the way of another fireball as it shoots at me again. I'm not quite quick enough and it skids down my calf lighting my pants on fire. I grab the burning area and rip it off. I yelp slight as it burns my hands. I start running again and stop to heave. I manage to make it to a pond and I stumble to a stop. It seems to have stopped. I sip water and soak my leg hoping it will help it. I stay there for a few hours searching desperately for a tree and rearranging my supplies so it's back in my backpack.

"Hey we got her!" Clove called. I turn and run finding a suitable tree quickly and flying up it. They all have a good forty pounds on me and I'm soon near the top of the tree. Three of them try climbing it and the girl from one shoots an arrow at me. I smirk. She really isn't any good at it. I retrieve the arrow and wave it teasingly.

"How's the weather up there?" Cato calls.

"It's great how's it down there?" I call back. He growls and takes the bow shooting another arrow at me. He also misses and I smirk again. I retrieve it as well and wave both of the arrows at them. "Maybe you should throw the sword."

"Let's just wait her out." The girl from four says. "She can't stay up there forever."

"Somebody start a fire." Cato orders.

"Psst." Someone hisses. I look around the trees and see Rue. Barely rustling the leaves she points out a nest to me. Tracker Jackers. Their sting is nasty and whenever we see a nest we leave it alone. I can't help the grin that slides across my face. I nod and set up my sleeping bag. I wait for the anthem and go up to the branch and start sawing. It's agony on my hands and I bite my lip harshly. The anthem stops and I climb back down to my set up and find a parachute. I open the pot and find medicine. I apply it to my leg and almost sigh in relief. I apply some to my hands and screw it closed wrapping it in the parachute. I set it in my backpack and go to sleep. I wake up early and look down to see everyone asleep.

"Rue." I call softly. Her eyes appear and I point up to to the nest. She nods and jumps from tree to tree flying away. I carefully pack everything up and swing my bag back on before climbing back to the nest. The Tracker Jackers  are leaving their nest and two find me. I finish cutting through the branch and shove it away from me. It falls down to the ground catching on a few branches but ultimately being smashed to pieces on the ground. They attack and everyone starts screaming and running. The girl from one falls down and I see the bow. The tracker Jackers follow the others and I climb down the tree and jump down to the ground. I stumble over to her and she's got green goo coming from her stings. I try and pull the bow from her but she won't let go. I grab a rock and break her fingers slinging the bow over my shoulder. I force her onto her side and grab the quiver before stumbling away. The world gets shiny and flowers burst out of the air before I trip and fall down the hill.