Chapter 8

“Your hair’s going to be a problem, Caroline.” Jake pulled me down to earth and I fumbled to a stop.

“What about my hair?”

“It’s too bright for the forest; you’ll give us away to anything we’re trying to track- animal or human.” He picked up some leaves and dirt. “Do we have any water?” I shook my head. We didn’t have any containers so far. Jake spit into his palm and mashed the leaves and dirt into a paste. “Don’t move,” he warned as he advanced on me. I made a face as he rubbed the mixture in my hair, dulling the color to a brown and green. When he made more he grabbed my chin, forcing it up, rubbing it on my face.

“Gross, Jake! Ugh, don’t do that again; that’s disgusting!”

“Oh, shush; we need to blend in. Give me the swords and knives.” As he worked on the blades, I held the bow and arrow at the ready. He gave me a sword back, and I heard the bushes rustle. I waved to Jake, telling him to quiet down, and I walked to the bush. I froze when it moved again. Upon looking closer, I saw a foot poking out from the bottom. “Come out now with your hands up,” I ordered, hoping whoever it was would listen to me.

A scrawny boy came out shaking, only a jug of water bouncing at his hip. He looked like he was about to cry. “Where are you from, boy?” Silence. “Come on, speak up. I don’t have all day.” I lifted my chin, looking down my nose at him with a malevolent look on my face.

“District Seven; I came to plead friendship between us, Caroline Sullivan.” His voice quivered and I was shocked.

I decided to take advantage of this perfect opportunity. “Do you know where Four is?”

“Yes, I do: They’re down by the beach looking for food. I can take you there.” His eyes lit up with hope.

“What do you think, Jake? I smell a trap and I think we should just kill the insolent boy now.” He stiffened and I held my sword closer to his neck.

“Let’s check it out it first. Even though Seven seemed pretty friendly with Logan, we should give this boy a chance.” Jake shouldered the quiver and grinned. “I’ll let you kill him if he lied.”

I lowered the blade and clapped with glee. The monster was back and it wanted blood. “Oh, goody! So much fun we’re going to have, aren’t we boy?” His eyes got wide with fear and tried to run. I blocked him with the sword at his nose and he stopped dead. “Don’t cross me, boy. I can kill you so fast you won’t have time to register the fact. Now move it,” I flicked the sword in the direction of the cliffs.

And wouldn’t you know it, District Four was there, creating nets and fishing lines. “Huh, guess I can’t kill you now, boy. Go now, before I change my mind.” He ran back into the trees as fast as his legs could carry him. “Bow please, Jake,” I asked, but my mind was elsewhere. We switched and I tore off a sleeve and tied it to the end of an arrow. “Time to cause a commotion,” I managed to light the fabric on fire and shot the flaming arrow in the boy’s direction. It barely grazed him, but it did the damage. They started screaming as the boy caught fire and jumped on the nets, igniting them as well. I laughed as I ran down to fight them and pulled out my swords. The boys’ screams died when he finally died. “You’re next girl!” I sliced upward, going for her gut, but she must have been trained a bit because she jumped out of my swing. Angry that my job has just become difficult, I drew a knife and threw it at her chest. She didn’t stand a chance. Fortunately, it sunk in and killed her. I heard two cannon shots right after I retrieved my weapons and I knew, without glancing back, that a hovercraft had arrived to take them away. Jake was waiting for me, still at the crest of the cliff and we went back to our tree to talk and conspire against our next victims.

“Caroline, what’s the matter with you? You’ve changed into an animal. I didn’t fall in love with a . . . a . . . a fiend!”A shudder rushes through my spine at his statement.

“I’m not sorry that I’ve changed. We’ve been placed in a situation where adaption is required.” I paused. “Do you want to be the fox or the hunter?” I asked, using my father’s favorite phrase. “I’m going to do another round and possibly bring back some food.” I took the bow and decided to do a wide radius sweep. I had managed to grab a few rabbits before getting back to the spot I started at. Once the rabbits were cleaned, I heard a scream and rushed back to Jake.

He stood above a girl’s body with a bloody sword in hand. A cannon went off as her heart finally gave up. “District Five tried to climb the tree,” he said shortly and I followed him up the tree as the hovercraft picked her up. We decided to cook up the rabbit later, and at dusk he went off to find water while I cooked. “Come to this call and you’ll find water.” He showed me a peculiar bird call and took off in search of some kind of waterway. He called to me about thirty minutes later and I took off to find him.

“Glorious water,” I sighed after a long drink. “Thanks, Jake, for finding this; I don’t know the last time I had a nice taste of water like this. At least now we can continue on with the rest of the people. Only eleven left!” I turned to look at him and got a fist to the face. I plunged back into the cold stream with fury starting to flow through my veins. I finally got a good look at my situation as I raised my sword to ward off the dangers. Jake was out cold with a bit blood trickling down the side of his head. The boy from Nine stood in front of me with a gauntleted fist. “Come to give me a visit?”

“I came on a mission, Caroline. Logan sent me to kill Jake, but you just happened to be here: As I should have guessed.” He looked too thin, like he’d been starved for days. I felt kind of sorry for him, being under Logan’s thumb ever since they met.

“So Logan can’t come himself? No wonder he looked weak.” I smiled nefariously, deciding to give the crowd a show. “You want to fight, fist-to-fist?”

“Sure; let’s get this done and over with.” He dropped the chainmail glove on the ground as I threw my sword in the mud. He swung first, going straight for my head. I ducked and landed a punch on his stomach. He pulled my hair like a sissy and I ripped away from him. “I don’t think you’re going to survive, Caroline,” he smiled and I returned it as I attained the upper hand with an uppercut to the chin. As he staggered back, I kicked out and my heel hit his chest squarely. He fell back, gasping for air, and his head hit a rock, cracking his skull in half. A cannon rung out and the body was taken away. I sat for a while, waiting for Jake to come to, and thought deeply about my situation. I’ve already killed three people, it shouldn’t matter anyways since I’ve killed way more back home. This guilt shouldn’t be here! Although these kids were sucked into this sick game as much as I was, maybe even more. I couldn’t wait anymore so I dumped water on Jake’s face, instantly waking him leaving him grasping for a weapon. “Come on, it’s time to get back and sleep- it’s getting dark.”

Jake took the first watch again, but didn’t last long. “Wake me up if you have to,” he said wearily.

One person walked under my tree once, but I left them alone, deciding to leave it for when I can see if there’ll be an ambush waiting for me. I saw faces flash in the sky close to dawn and I wake Jake so I can get some sleep too. “Two more to go and we’ll be in the top eight!”