Wave ~ Hunger Games [1]

forty-four

+ screams +

I had turned around as fast as humanly possible, leaving my apple core behind as we ran through the gangling trees. The birds had figured out that we were threats to them, flying faster as they let out loud deafening squawks. They surrounded us, blanketing over our heads as they blocked out a lot of the sunlight, encasing us in their loud cries. They were easily making their way through the trees, a few of them smacking into the trunks and killing themselves as they fell to the ground, the rest of them just weaving through the trunks as they pursued us once again.

One pecked at the back of my leg, tearing off a piece of my flesh as I screamed, stumbling as I tried my hardest to run faster, or as fast as I could. Ridley swung his machete at the birds that were trying to surround him, managing to swat them away as they tried to tear him to pieces. Fuse had his hands raised, trying his hardest to keep a good hold on the rope that held together all of our supplies. He was hitting them away from his face, the birds flapping their wings furiously as they snapped their beaks at us. Seeing them up close made it clear that they weren't natural birds, but they were most definitely mutts.

They were the size of a loaf of bread, their wings spanning out the size of my arm and their beaks razor sharp and pointing as they pecked at any exposed skin that I had on show. I swung my trident around, managing to slice one in half as it splattered me with its bright green blood, falling to the floor as I tried to keep running. One pecked at my bicep, making me jerk my arm away as I grunted, jumping over a tree root as I kept running quickly.

There was the sound of a canon in the background somewhere, barely audible as I looked to my left and right to see Ridley and Fuse both running as fast as they could. "They are mutts" I screamed over the loud screeching, which was cutting straight through my head. "They are trying to tear us apart" I added, grabbing one by the wing that had it beak clamped around the top of my arm. I threw it as far as I could, making it slap into a tree as it fell into a heap of its own wings.

I held my trident close to the blades, giving me more control on it as I tried to spear and chop as many birds as I possible could. Even after I killed a few there seemed to be about five more that just took its place, trying to tear my limbs away from my body. Being this close to them it let me realise that the deep red colour of their beaks was the same as the colour that the poisonous fish's gills were. At this distance I could also tell that it was the same colour as blood, which was probably why they had these red accents, as all the mutts did was kill unsuspecting tributes.

I swatted one away from my face as I watched as Fuse fell to the ground, his foot having caught on a large tree root which sent him tumbling. I wanted to stop and help him up, but a bird burying its beak on the back of my neck made me scream out in pain, remembering that if I stopped they would do nothing but tear me into shreds. "Fuse" I screamed, turning to see the boy trying to get up off of the floor, more birds surrounding him as he let out a scream. "Keep running" I heard him shout through screams, watching as he tried to swing his knife around him, trying to kill the birds that were circling him.

"We cant just leave him" I shouted to Ridley, who was looking back as he ran by my side, actually being quite fast on his feet. "We have to" Ridley shouted, managing to catch a bird with his large blade as it splattered its green blood all over the boys face. I looked back, a large crowd of birds surrounding Fuse as he continued to let out loud shrill screams of pain. "Come on" Ridley urged to me as I swatted a bird away from my face, but not quick enough for it to tear off the skin on my jaw line, tricking warm blood down my neck.

As we kept running the birds stopped chasing us, the sound of Fuse's screaming getting further and further away. I panted as his shouts filled my head, all of the creatures trying their hardest to get a bite of the boy who was lying on the floor, trying to swat them all away. I didn't have a moment to think as Ridley and I kept running to the best of our abilities. The sound of Fuse's screaming stopped suddenly, the sound of the birds squawking getting further and fainter as we ran from them.

Then there was the sound of a canon.

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A/N: this chapter kind of low key sucks but I tried my hardest I promise
I knew that I wanted to kill Fuse off not long after Waverley met him, just to show that she can make friends in the arena but they can just as easily die when they least expect it
please don't forget to vote and comment and I will see you all soon