The 55th Hunger Games

Chapter 15

        When we have walked a little further along I manage to light a small fire using pine twigs, sap, fallen branches and my single match. The fire is in a shallow pit I had dug in the snow and lined with a thick blanket of damp tree bark. Hopefully the pit will hide the flickering fire light from view. Our forest covering seems to be quite affective for hiding the smoke.

        We dig another snow cave to sleep in and peel off some pine bark from a tree and eat that. Then, when Aponi promises me again that she will not leave me, I gratefully go to sleep. My body is a complete wreck and it will do no more for me in its current state.

        When I wake up the sky is getting dark and I know that soon it will light up and show us the dead tribute. When it does, Aponi and I are warming our chilled hands by the fire.

        The anthem comes on followed by the faces.

        With a shock I see the picture of the District 1 boy flash up on the screen. Then quite unexpectedly the face of the District 11 boy flashes on too.

        "Two dead tributes?" I gasp. "But we only heard one cannon."

        "One went off when you were asleep." Aponi says. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

        "I slept through a cannon blast?"

        She nods. "You must have been really deeply asleep."

        I nod, because I had been very tired. "But a Career is dead. That's the first one, isn't it?"

        She nods in agreement. "What do you think happened to him?"

        "I'm not sure. Who exactly is there left in the arena? There are five Careers- both from 2 and 4 and the girl from 1, but who else?"

        "There's both of us and your district partner." She answers helpfully.

        "But there should be one more shouldn't there? Fifteen are dead, which makes nine of us left."

        "Oh, I know." Aponi says, "It's the girl from District 5 who we are forgetting."

        Mahamari! How could I have forgotten?

        "She is so small, Aponi. How is she lasting so long?"

        "She is small, but maybe she is very good at surviving, like you are."

        I shake my head. "But I watched her in training and tried to help her light a fire. She only scored a two."

        Aponi shrugs. "Then maybe she tricked you."  

        I hadn't considered this. Could it be possible? Surely not. She didn't look as though she was faking her survival skills, but if she was then that gives me a whole new perspective on her. Perhaps that is the reason why she did not want to team up with me. It's still very difficult to believe. If she is in fact a very good survivor then she must be an incredible actor.

        "Aponi," I say softly. "You said that you were spying on the Careers when the blizzard hit."

        She nods. "Yes, I was. They're around the Cornucopia."

        "My mentor told me to evade them. He says I should do all I can to stay away from tributes and out of the fighting, but I feel like I have been evading too long. We don't have a clue what is going on, Aponi. They could be hunting us right now. In part from the five of them, there are only four of us left. Samantha may be a big threat to them but the rest of us are not. Or they won't think that we are anyway, because they haven't seen us since the games started. I think we should go and spy on them so we can see exactly where we stand on their list."