“What?” I instantly turned to look at him, my hair flipping me in the face with my haste.
“You should expect to do a lot of running and some very cold nights.”
“How do you know?”
“The way the clothes are made: Gripping soles, reflective jacket.” He sighed and we heard the five-minute warning bell. “Go for your best weapons. Have Jake watch your back while you get the supplies. Get as high up as you can go, and don’t split up. With your eleven and Jake’s seven, you have a bulls-eye right on your heads. Time to go, Caroline. Please come back.” He ushered me into an elevator and it took me to the top.
Seeing everyone else there was such a relief, but seeing how much stuff there was, was not. I glanced around the meager pickings and finally found two swords. Nearby were two packs and about a dozen knives tied together: All that I needed collected in one spot. I look at Jake, whose spot is three places to my right, and nodded at the cluster. He grinned, instantly knowing my plan.
“Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome.” The announcer paused for a second then continued with renewed joy. “Let the Games begin!”
Waiting the five seconds before the mines were switched off, I caught Jake’s eye again: He was ready. Right away, I sprinted for my stuff. I tossed Jake one of the swords and grabbed for the rest. As I started looking for more things, I found rope and a bow and a full quiver. I grabbed onto both, keeping my sword arm free, and made my way out there as fast as I could, whistling at Jake to let him know it was time to go. He finished off the girl who was fighting him and quickly followed me towards the trees.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my calf. I stopped to check it out and saw a throwing knife hilt deep in my leg. We continued running anyways until we hit the trees, and I sunk against a trunk in tears. “Jake, get the knife out now. Find something to use in one of the packs to bind it.” My leg was on fire as Jake silently worked. I bit my hand as he tore the blade out and applied pressure. Once he was done, we climbed a tree that was farther in the forest. “Let’s look in the packs and set up camp.” Using one of the knives I hollowed out a big part of the trunk and we put the weapons and a large amount of the rope into the now empty space. In the packs there was a single sleeping bag, dried fruit and meat, and some night vision glasses.
“Only one sleeping bag, huh? How are we supposed to fit?” Jake asked. He was answered with a silver package falling into his lap. Inside was another bag. “Well, that solves that problem.” He looks at the sky that’s growing darker by the second. “We better get some sleep. I’ll keep watch first.” He slid on the glasses and climbed a few boughs higher.
As I tied myself and the sleeping bag to the trunk, I heard a branch snap. I looked down to see the girl from District Six. She had a sword in her and looked around. But when she looked up her eyes grew wide with terror as she recognized me. She was about to scream when it was cut short by an arrow flashing and appearing in her gaping mouth. Above me, I heard the hum of the bow and looked up to see Jake with a hard expression on his face, his mouth a hard line. He nodded as he went down to retrieve the weapons and supplies before she was taken away. Curling up for sleep, I saw every face of every person I had killed since I was eight, haunting me in my dreams.
Jake woke me to see who had died so far: Both from Three; the boy from Five; both from Six; the girls from Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten; and the boy from Eleven. “So, only ten dead; fourteen left.” I murmured. “Get some sleep, Jake; I’ll take the watch now. Come tomorrow, we’ll be on District short. For tomorrow, District Four will no longer be with us.” He grunted and quickly fell asleep. I thought about their scores, and knew we would have a fair chance: The boy only had a five and the girl had a three. I munched on a meat strip for a while, looking through the glasses for predators. Dawn came and I woke Jake, handing him a few pieces of meat. “Let’s move to a different tree before we hit the forest floor: We don’t want to give away our headquarters.” We loaded up on knives and while I packed two swords, Jake took the bow. Swinging and jumping from branch to branch for a while, I thought about where District Four might be. Will they be easy to find? I guessed that the forest would be a bad place to start, so we agreed to head towards the cliffs when we touched down.
“Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome.” The announcer paused for a second then continued with renewed joy. “Let the Games begin!”
Waiting the five seconds before the mines were switched off, I caught Jake’s eye again: He was ready. Right away, I sprinted for my stuff. I tossed Jake one of the swords and grabbed for the rest. As I started looking for more things, I found rope and a bow and a full quiver. I grabbed onto both, keeping my sword arm free, and made my way out there as fast as I could, whistling at Jake to let him know it was time to go. He finished off the girl who was fighting him and quickly followed me towards the trees.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my calf. I stopped to check it out and saw a throwing knife hilt deep in my leg. We continued running anyways until we hit the trees, and I sunk against a trunk in tears. “Jake, get the knife out now. Find something to use in one of the packs to bind it.” My leg was on fire as Jake silently worked. I bit my hand as he tore the blade out and applied pressure. Once he was done, we climbed a tree that was farther in the forest. “Let’s look in the packs and set up camp.” Using one of the knives I hollowed out a big part of the trunk and we put the weapons and a large amount of the rope into the now empty space. In the packs there was a single sleeping bag, dried fruit and meat, and some night vision glasses.
“Only one sleeping bag, huh? How are we supposed to fit?” Jake asked. He was answered with a silver package falling into his lap. Inside was another bag. “Well, that solves that problem.” He looks at the sky that’s growing darker by the second. “We better get some sleep. I’ll keep watch first.” He slid on the glasses and climbed a few boughs higher.
As I tied myself and the sleeping bag to the trunk, I heard a branch snap. I looked down to see the girl from District Six. She had a sword in her and looked around. But when she looked up her eyes grew wide with terror as she recognized me. She was about to scream when it was cut short by an arrow flashing and appearing in her gaping mouth. Above me, I heard the hum of the bow and looked up to see Jake with a hard expression on his face, his mouth a hard line. He nodded as he went down to retrieve the weapons and supplies before she was taken away. Curling up for sleep, I saw every face of every person I had killed since I was eight, haunting me in my dreams.
Jake woke me to see who had died so far: Both from Three; the boy from Five; both from Six; the girls from Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten; and the boy from Eleven. “So, only ten dead; fourteen left.” I murmured. “Get some sleep, Jake; I’ll take the watch now. Come tomorrow, we’ll be on District short. For tomorrow, District Four will no longer be with us.” He grunted and quickly fell asleep. I thought about their scores, and knew we would have a fair chance: The boy only had a five and the girl had a three. I munched on a meat strip for a while, looking through the glasses for predators. Dawn came and I woke Jake, handing him a few pieces of meat. “Let’s move to a different tree before we hit the forest floor: We don’t want to give away our headquarters.” We loaded up on knives and while I packed two swords, Jake took the bow. Swinging and jumping from branch to branch for a while, I thought about where District Four might be. Will they be easy to find? I guessed that the forest would be a bad place to start, so we agreed to head towards the cliffs when we touched down.
No comments:
Post a Comment