Wave ~ Hunger Games [1]

forty-three

+ fluttering +

day seven

I had let the two boys rest during the night, even though I was sure that Ridley was only pretending to be asleep. I was way too well rested for my own good after being knocked out for a whole day, so I thought that it would be the best idea for me to keep watch all night. I had spent the whole night trying to think about all of the ways that Valour would have died, making a list in my head of possible situations.

I had come to the conclusion that Velvet had probably plunged a knife into his heart while they were resting, or even throwing one into the back of his neck when they were walking through the woods. I doubted that Ashlor killed him, as there probably would have been a large fight between them, which would have left Ashlor dead instead of Valour. I was trying to figure out if Velvet and Ashlor had decided to split up yet, or if they were trying to stick together until the last possible minute before one had to kill the other.

I walked behind the two boys, who were making small conversation as they chewed on the small pieces of apple they were eating. I held my trident over my shoulder, holding the core of the apple in my hand as I chewed on it slowly, looking down at the ground as I followed. "At least it isn't as hot as it used to be" Ridley said as he turned around to look at me, making sure I was still following them as I sucked on the core, trying to draw out all the juices of the fruit.

"I think it killed off a few people" I said as they both turned to look at me, making my lift my chin as I shrugged my shoulders at the pair of them. "That and the lack of water" Fuse added as I nodded my head, knowing that at least one of the three that died yesterday probably having died by dehydration and exhaustion. "It's not very entertaining" I said in a mocking Capitol accent with a small smirk, both turning to look at me quickly. Ridley smiled along with me, raising his eyebrows as Fuse just turned around again, not finding my joke funny, or maybe not even realising I was trying to make a joke.

"How's your head?" Fuse asked me quickly, trying to change the conversation as he cleared his throat quickly, wiping his dirty fingers on his leg, which didn't do much as his wet suit was also dirty. "Not too bad, I think I've just acclimated to the pain" I said with a small shrug, which made Fuse nod his head slowly. It was true, the bandage that was still wrapped around my head no longer leaking through blood, which I hoped meant that the large gash wasn't bleeding anymore.

"We can wash it out when we stop again tonight" Fuse said to me as I let out a small hum in agreement, knowing that it was going to hurt like hell, but it was probably extremely important to try and reduce any form of infection that was nesting in my head. I hadn't bothered to ask how Fuse knew how to clean out a gash, even though I was pretty sure he didn't and was just making it up when he was doing it. I was hoping that his mother was a good healer or something, or maybe he had read a book on it in the past, because if he slipped his finger would be inch deep in my brain.

My knowledge of medicine didn't really cover much. All I knew was that if your trident blade ended up in your foot that you had to go and find mom immediately, and she would either wrap it up or if it was deep enough she'd take you to Firth's mother, Molly, who would sew it up for you after she had forced you to take three large mouthfuls of spirit to try and ease the pain. It had happened to Kai one day when he had struck the water to try and catch a large salmon, but instead he missed and almost sliced off one of his toes.

There was a faint smile on my face, and I tried to push the memory of my family to the back of my head, knowing that if I thought about them I would start crying again. I didn't want to think about the fact that they were probably crowded in the living room, watching the TV screen as I walked through the trees, chewing on the small piece of apple that we were sharing between us. I wondered for a moment if they had gotten into contact with Ridley's parents, especially now that we were considered allies.

All of the sudden I heard a very faint noise in the trees, pulling me out of my small daydream. It was almost nothing at first, the sound of a birds wings fluttering in the distance almost completely irrelevant as I bit off another small chunk of the able. I wanted to write it off as a bird making its way from tree to tree, maybe trying to find some new twigs and leaves to make its nest, but it was slowly getting louder and louder.

"You guys hear that?" I asked as I looked around, the boys turning to look at me with confused looks on their faces as they also looked into the trees surrounding us. "Yeah" Ridley replied to me as he swallowed the rest of his apple quickly, walking a little bit faster as I continued to look around. As the noise got louder and louder I came to the conclusion that it was just one birds. It was at least 20.

As we kept walking through the trees it got louder and louder. 20. 30. 50. 100. The noise was so loud at this point that I looked up, positive that there would have to be hundred of birds looming over us for the noise to be that loud. "What is it?" Fuse asked as he gripped onto the rop that was carrying our supplies a bit tighter, my instincts clicking into place as I pulled my trident off of my shoulder, holding it defensively in my hand. I didn't want to let go of my apple, knowing that I would be able to get so much more juice out of it, but my finger dropped it to the floor, my hand securing itself of my trident handle.

There was a boom of a canon, the fluttering noise almost masking it as I looked around in the trees. The hair on my arms stood up straight, anticipating that whatever was making the noise could not be good, especially in this arena. "Was that a canon?" Ridley asked as him and Fuse looked around, walking a bit faster over the dense ground, trying to figure out what that noise was. "I think so" Fuse said, nodding his head at the other boy as I furrowed my eyebrows.

I stopped in my spot, the noise getting louder and louder as I turned around slowly. The fluttering noise was deafening as the two boys turned to look as well, a wall of large black birds making their way through the trees. I stared at them with wide eyes for a moment, mentally telling myself I should be running already. I could see their large bright red beaks that's were contrasting against their sleek black feathers, thousands of them zooming their way towards the three of us.

I finally realised what was happening, turning around to the two boys who were still staring at the wall of mutts that were making their way towards us. I opened my mouth quickly, seeing them having the same reaction I did as I screamed at the pair of them, my trident held tightly in my hand.

"Run"

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A/N: I promised you an exciting chapter so just sit tight and wait until tomorrows update I promise!
this was a little bit of a boring chapter I know but its important for the next few chapter trust me
thank you for reading and please don't forget to vote and comment and I will see you soon