The End of Innocence: The 72nd Annual Hunger Games

Shaken

"Right, we need to go hunting." Is the first thing Lesa says the next day. The whole sleep was on and off, which annoyed me. Knowing Lesa was there watching us wasn't enough for me, I still needed to have my own sort of protection and not depend on anyone else for it. The ground was damp and at times Ion moved so much. 

"Well someone needs to wait here and watch the stuff," Coil says from his sleeping bag. Lesa stands at the tree where I last glanced at her. She looks pretty restless, she still clenches the machete in her hand.

"I'll stay and watch. " I say first, partly because I don't want to leave the camp and get hunted down, and the other part because I feel I should protect our camp. I can't imagine dying today of all days, however, the thought of me venturing out is very daunting.

"Nah, I wanna catch up with Max, we should go hunt together," Coil says. It makes me jump back in shock. Really? Since when did we get along? Did the Games make him realise it's his actual life on the line? "We need to get to know each other."

"He's right," I say instinctively. "I wanna get to know him." From the corner of my eye, I see him smiling. He's pretty harmless and innocent right? It is probably for the best if we get to know each other. It might make the audience believe we are actually a team and can communicate well. Who knows, maybe he is thinking the exact same thing?

"Right. I guess the two boys can go off, me and Ion can go look for stuff to make a shelter for us. We can have girly talk, right?" Lesa laughs and looks at Ion. Ion smiles back sitting by herself beside me. The two smiles seem very genuine. I hope whatever they talk about will be useful to the crowd. It would also be useful for us to work out a strategy as to how we're going to do this.

"We'll be back in an hour or so." I declare, however, I'm not exactly sure how long it'll take us. 

"We'll be here, obviously. We won't move either." Ion smiles.

I get out of the sleeping bag and brush off all the dirt from me. My jacket sticks to me again and it makes me question how dirty I'll actually be at the end of this if I come out alive. Coil begins to walk, so I follow. 

As we walk down the hill, I realise how steep it is. Yesterday, I was so sick, only half awake, I'm glad it'd take some effort for anyone else to try to reach and kill us. When we reach the bottom, I reach into my bag and take out the water bottle and the knives in the belt. The rope is left alone. I take a swig of the water, that's turned slightly bitter, and I adjust the belt on my waist. Nine knives left.

"So how do we know where the animals will be?" He asks rubbing his head.

"We keep walking, some will be around here because we're beside a water source. I think we need to find more grass because that means there can more animals. It's mostly dead wood here." I reply. I get no reply back. 

We begin to trek in the ever-rising heat. I tie my jacket around my waist, revealing caked in blood all over my t-shirt. District 7's blood, and possibly my own. The woods around us are eery. The treetops aren't as high as the other woods we were in. Here, they twist and turn upon each other, some trees even grow into another one beside it. There isn't much sign of animal life here, there isn't enough foliage or anything. I can't see a huntable animal exploring these parts.

For about ten minutes of going what I think is west, Coil finally opens his mouth. "Can I ask you something?" He throws at me. It takes me by surprise as I am in hunting mode, trying to examine any signs of life to no avail. I am still a bit iffy about him, and to be honest, I don't want to know whatever he's going to tell me. I'm sure as hell I won't know him much longer so he may aswell get as much as he can off his chest before he dies, so I nod.