I wake at sunrise the next morning to a thud of a parachute at my feet. A sponsor sent me something! I sit upright and open up the box. Inside is a bottle, but instead of being filled with water like I hoped and expected, its filled with twirling and pluming fog. I unscrew the lid, and touch it with my finger. I immediately rip my fingertip out, as a searing pain soars through my veins. I quickly twist the cap back on. Why would they send this? As I untie the rope from my waist and fold up my sleeping bag, I realize. The fog is a weapon!! If I don't want to get blood on my hands, I can toss this at them. Genius! I stuff it into my backpack, and keep hiking in the direction I was headed yesterday. I hear footsteps after a few hours. I leap up a tree, like a chipmunk. I suck my breath in between my clenched teeth.
Its the Careers.
"How did Saylor die? How?" Selena asks. Wait, what? I didn't think Selena was with the Careers?
"I watched that girl from 12 kill her." Jules says.
"How did that girl make it this far?" Silke says in a sneering tone. "She doesn't even have her bow!"
"Because I do!" Jules waves the bronze bow in the air. I grit my teeth. Why him? I quietly let out my breath. A drop of blood falls from my finger tip. Drip, drop. It turns into a steady stream. I squeeze my finger, trying to stop the blood flow.
"What's that?" Gunner asks. He turns his head up, and looks at me.
"She's mine!!" Silke says, and begins to climb up the tree. I scurry up farther, and Silke falls right on her back.
"I'll get her!" Jules says.
"No you won't!!" Silke rips the bow out of Jules's hands and draws an arrow. It hits the branch below me. I yank it out and teasingly wave it over the Careers.
Gunner slashes the air with his long serrated sword. It has a nasty curve in it, and its stained with blood. The Careers look at each other, and start discussing what they're going to do. I look over my shoulder, and smirk.
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Its Jasmyne, standing behind a boulder, with Mace by her side. I nod and smile at them, and with one swift shove, they push it down the hill.
Its absolute chaos. Jules carelessly throws his bow off to the side, and his pack slips off of his shoulders. I swoop them both up before the rock flattens them. I stay in the safety of my tree, and dump the contents of my pack into Jules's giant one. I sling my rabbit bag over my shoulder and feed him a few berries.
My finger begins throbbing again. I take a look at it, and see that the fog had chewed off a thick layer of my skin. I climb up a tree, and scan what supplies I got from Jules. Bandage! Cream! I generously lather on the healing cream and tightly wrap it up with bandage. A cannon fires. I flinch, and my mind goes to Van. He could be choking on his blood, or worse by now. I look up, and suddenly see Jasmyne in the tree in front of me. Mace was running in the opposite direction. She recoils at the sigh of me. "Hey," I say soothingly. "I don't want to hurt you." I climb down, and she does the same.
"Do you have any water?" she squeaks.
I take off my backpack and pull out the bottle. "Do you have any?" I ask her.
She pulls out a small canteen of water. "I got a sponsor," she says in a tiny voice. I smile at her, and I see her grimace at my bandaged finger. "Its bleeding," she points to the bandage, and I look down to see what used to be beige, now red. "I can fix it!"
"Really?" I ask. She nods. I slowly unravel the bandage. She pops some leaves in her mouth, and chews them up, her teeth pounding. She spits out the leaves, in a green, mushy, ball. She squeezes the leaf ball over my finger, and green liquid drops in tiny teardrop shapes onto my blood-drained finger. She wraps it up in bandage. I smile at her, and my stomach begins to growl. I pull out the pack and pour out the contents.
"How did you get such a big pack?" she asks.
"I swooped up Jules's pack. Think the boulder killed any of them?" I lift up a bag of beef jerky. I unzip the bag, and hand two slices to Jasmyne, not after taking a sliver for me. I pop it into my mouth, and hungrily chew it down, swallowing instantly. She holds up some berries, and tosses me some. I catch one in my mouth, and break the skin, the juice spewing over my teeth and lips. I lick it off and swallow the berry. "Should we let Ted the bunny lead us to water?" I ask.
She grins. "I have a few empty bottles I found!" she lifts up two, tall canteens. I smile back, and I let Ted hop away. After lots of laughter as we chase the scrawny hare, he leads us to a pond. A real body of water, that Jasmyne and I could float in the water together. A lot better than the puddle I relied on yesterday. Together, we leap toward the pond and begin to fill up our bottles. I let Ted eat some grass, before shooing him back into the bag. "I could go hunting.. oh man, I didn't get any arrows from Jules!!" I exclaim, upset.
Jasmyne lays a hand on me. "Everyone loves you, you'll probably get a sponsor soon enough." I nod, and pull out a bread roll from the pack. I hand Jasmyne one, in my dirty hands, before reaching for one to eat myself. Before Jasmyne's teeth can sink through the soft bread, I pull it out of her hands. Her face shows pure dismay, but I pull out a bag of raisins, and the expression disappears. I sprinkle a few one, and drizzle honey on top. She lays a berry in a puddle of honey. "Bon appetit!" She rips off a chunk of bread. I do the same with my roll, sprinkling raisins and pouring honey on top. I skip out on the berry, and dig in. The shadow of early night casts over the land, making us practically invisible. Once I finish, I start to organize the pack.
Two full water bottles, a thin gray blanket, the bandage wrap I used to wrap up my finger, healing cream, a dagger, a pair of gloves, socks, a plastic bag, night-vision glasses, and a single skin moisturizer lotion. I lather my hands in lotion, as the skin was red, and cracking. I take the rest of the berries I plucked last night, and drop them all into my mouth. I gulp down some water, and see Jasmyne sip from her small canteen. I offer her one of the water bottles I got from Jules's pack, and she drinks it dry. While she replenishes her thirst, I set up the sleeping bag. She watches. "Can I climb in?" I smile, and nod. We climb up, and I slip in. I use the backpack as my pillow, and tie Ted's bag shut. Using my knife, I slash open a hole so he can breathe. I situate him between Jasmyne and I. Jasmyne snuggles close, and rests her head on my shoulder.
"In 12, do you use all of the coal you get?" she asks me.
I shake my head subtly. "No. My dad usually cleans his shoes of coal every day, and we use that. It isn't much, we usually just start a fire with twigs and save up the coal. Do you get eat all the fruits and vegetables you want?"
"No. If we're caught doing that, we're shot," she shivers. "I've seen my cousin killed because she ate a berry."
I flinch. "Strict." I say. Jasmyne nods. Our conversation will be blocked out for the viewers. Had the Capitol's secrets been leaked to the nation, they'd rebel for sure. That was the purpose of the Games, to prevent them from rebelling anyway.
Our chat was interrupted by the sound of the anthem. The female from 10 died. That was the cannon shot I thought was Van. So Van made another day.
"I thought you'd be with Van by now?" Jasmyne says.
"I didn't see where he went," I admit.
"We can search for him tomorrow!" Jasmyne exclaims.
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"Yeah!"
"Lets do it." I stroke her hair, and she dozes off. I pull out some cheese from the pack, and pop it into my mouth. I lay my head on Jasmyne's.
Allying with Jasmyne was a good idea after all. It gives me the irresistible feeling of safety like I did when I would snuggle with Scottlynn in bed, or when her and I traveled to the meadow and pluck flowers for my mother's birthday. Or when I took her to the woods to gather plants and herbs and berries. I can't withstand the fatigue any longer, and I fall asleep.
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