We hike from sunset to early in the morning, when its still night, but you can see the sky light up. We settle for a hidden patch of ground in a grove of trees, and for the first time in the Games, we sleep on the ground. I let Jasmyne rest, while I stand guard. I hear rustling, and Jasmyne is jerked awake. I look over my shoulder, and hear the voices of the Careers. "Quick, get up in the tree," I breathe to her. "I'm using my fog bottle." I smirk, and help her tie the rope around her waist. I pull out the bottle, the fog still swirling around. I duck inside a fat, leafy bush. I see all five of the Careers, aimlessly chatting. As they near the bush, I quickly unscrew the lid, and toss it out at their feet.
"What's this-" Gunner asks, but his voice is cut off by an ear-piercing scream as the fog engulfs his legs. He flails his arms around, and runs off, followed by Silke and Selena, whose arms were bloodied. Jules and the boy from Four, however, were not so lucky. Jules collapses to the ground, shrieking and hopelessly screeching for help. The skinny boy from Four goes down quickly, engulfed by the cloud, killed instantly. Jules tries to run, but the fog drapes over his head and eyes. He tries batting it away, wounding his hands. I lift up my bow and ready an arrow. I aim for his neck, and before he can shout for help again, his throat is skewered. His cannon fires in the distance, and the fog takes off in pursuit of the rest of the Careers. I remain sulking in the shadows of the shrub, and as soon as the fog has fully cleared out, I sneak in. I fill up my quiver with as many arrows I can fit from Jules, and take the backpack from Four's back. I return to the tree Jasmyne is in, and see her clutching onto her cheek. "You alright?" I ask her. I scale up, and see a wisp of fog floating around the top of the tree. It gnawed at her cheek, and I see her hands covered in blood. I take out the jar of cream and generously lather some on. She winces, and squeals quietly in pain. I tightly wrap bandage around her hands, making sort of a glove. I climb back down from the tree again. I lift up the sleeping bag. Its unscathed, except for a few burnt patches from the fire, and a small hole from the fog. I offer her a carrot I got from Four, and she gratefully sinks her teeth into it, crunching through the orange vegetable, the juice exploding over her face. I pull out a serving of rabbit, and eat it like I'm starving. Which is only partly true. Jasmyne begins to fold up the sleeping bag, while I organize our new supplies in the pack. I pull out my hairband that was holding my braid together, and put it around my wrist for later. My hair is greasy and filthy, and it needs washed. In the Seam, I would usually wash my hair (and my body) once a week. Once, I didn't bathe for two months. The time we nearly starved to death.
"Ready to go find Van?" Jasmyne asks me. I grin, and nod. Gripping my bow tightly, we start hiking toward the opposite direction the Careers ran. I see a small, turkey-like bird in a tree, and shoot it down. "That's a groosling. We eat those in Eleven a lot." she informs me. I see a few more, and with plenty arrows to waste, I shoot three more grooslings. I pull out the plastic bag, and stuff all four grooslings inside.
We spend hours walking, chatting, laughing, hunting, and gathering berries, plants, and roots. One the sun begins to set slowly, Jasmyne starts to make a fire. I pull out a groosling, and begin to skin and gut him. I hand the bird over to Jasmyne, and she begins roasting it over the meager flames. My hands fly around with the knife, yanking off skin and feathers, removing organs and gutting each bird nearly instantly. When all of the birds are roasted to a tempting shade of brown, Jasmyne hands the pile to me. I shake my head, and hand a bird to her.
"Eat it." I take a bite of a groosling wing.
"Really?" she asks, and in response, I nod. "All of it?" Again, I nod, vigorously. "Wow, I've never had a whole bird before."
"I thought you ate a lot of groosling in Eleven?" I say, confused. I limit myself to eating a wing and one leg, before stuffing the birds back in the pack.
"I shared them all with my sister and brother. I was lucky to have both wings." she sighs. I nod, and slip a berry into my mouth, before starting to set up the sleeping bag in our tree. "Haylynn?" I hear Jasmyne's small voice.
I leap off of the tree, gracefully landing on my feet, and turn my head toward Jasmyne. Her finger rises up, pointing toward something in the tree. I look up to see what she's pointing to. Its a hive, and bees, or wasps, I'm not sure, and the insects are buzzing around it. "What is that?" I ask.
"Tracker jackers." Jasmyne says.
I know what tracker jackers are. They're wasps that the Capitol created. They'll track you down (that's where the tracker part of tracker jacker came from) and sting you. I've heard the stings grow to the size of a plum, but thankfully I've never had to experience one. You get horrendous hallucinations. One sting too many will surely kill you.
I quickly untie the sleeping bag, trying to be as silent as possible. I toss the backpack down to Jasmyne, who easily catches it. "We need to flee this area. They'll surely ambush us." she says. I stomp out the flames, and start tearing away until I hear a cry from Jasmyne."Haylynn!" I return, and see her clasping something in her bandaged hands. She hands me my ring. My mockingjay ring Scottlynn gave. I let myself smile, before slipping it onto my finger.
As we jog away from the nest, Jasmyne looks at me. "Lets part ways. We need a bit more food and water. I'll be the lookout for plants and water, and you for animals. We'll both be searching for Van." she says.
Her plan makes me stop. Its a good idea, and I know I should be more keen on finding Van. He could be bleeding white, sobbing for help, and I'm so cheerfully living my best life here with Jasmyne. "How will we know if the other is safe?" I ask. The last thing I want is with this plan, Jasmyne dying trying to help.
Without any words, Jasmyne sings a three note melody. She looks up to the sky, as if the dawn sun were going to sing it back to her, when seemingly it does. "Mockingjays. I thought of it when I found your ring." I nod. "Let's both sing it when we're safe. Every hour or so." she says.
I nod, and sing it just as Jasmyne had. The mockingjays repeat my melody, and everything falls silent once again. "Okay. Its a plan." I smile again, and pull the backpack from my back. I hand Jasmyne the last three carrots from the Four boy. The last roll, a groosling, and a handful of berries. I insist she keeps my sleeping bag and all my matches as well, and a sharp knife. She organizes all of the supplies into her pack, and I repeat the melody again, as to memorize it. She gives me the thumbs-up, and I let out my breath I'd been holding. Suddenly, Jasmyne wraps her arms around me.
"Be careful." I say.184Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnfA5F2c2X
"You too." she says. I pull away, and we part ways, both going away from the tracker jacker nest.
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