𝓥𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻 | Katsuki Bakugou x Male reader

Chapter 11

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Without hesitation, (M/N) untied the rope from his waist, shoved everything into his bag, hoisted it onto his back, and jumped straight out of the tree, landing awkwardly on his ankle. He hissed at the pain but didn't give it a second thought as he began sprinting.

Everything around him was on fire, smoke wafting through the air was making it hard to breathe. (M/N) constantly had to avoid burning branches as they broke away from trees and showered down around him, exploding into sparks as they collided with the ground. (M/N) did his best to follow the wild animals that were also fleeing from the flames. He trusted their sense of direction since their instincts were a lot better than his. Though it was a struggle to keep up with them as they greatly outmatched him in speed.

The smoke continued to get worse, causing him to start coughing as well as making the path ahead of him harder to see. The heat was already unbearable, (M/N) felt like he was in an oven. He pulled his shirt up over his nose, grateful when he realised it was soaked in sweat, which provided a thin layer of protection. He continued to run, his bag smashing against his back, his face getting cut by branches that appeared from the grey haze without warning.

There was no way this was a tribute campfire gone out of control, or any accidental occurrence for that matter. The wall of flames that came down upon him had unnatural height and uniformity. They were made by the gamemakers. Things had been too quiet recently. There were no deaths, maybe no fights at all. The audience back at the Capital would be getting bored, claiming that these games were currently very dull, which is something the games must not do.

(M/N) didn't need to guess what the gamemakers' motivations were. There was the career pack and then there were the rest of the tributes, spread out far and wide across the arena. He could tell the fire was designed to drive them together. It wasn't the most original device (M/N) had seen, but it was certainly effective.

Suddenly (M/N) heard a groaning sound coming from behind him, without stopping, he turned his head towards the source of the noise, only for his vision to be obscured by the wall of flames. He heard it again, and saw something move inside the fire, but before he could give it any further thought, his foot snagged a tree log and he harshly fell face first into the ground.

(M/N) quickly regained his senses and got up, only taking one or two seconds to let the dizziness pass, and during that brief period, he finally got a good look at the stampede of flames that were relentlessly chasing after him. He could very clearly make out what appeared to be a giant pair of eyes peering down at him.

He heard the groan again, and realised it was coming from said flames, which were rapidly closing in on the little amount of distance (M/N) had gained. He turned around and legged it.

The hell is that? I've never seen anything like it before, (M/N) thought as he ran blindly through the smoke. He summarised it as one of the gamemakers new inventions, though he very much didn't appreciate being their test subject for it.

He could imagine how funny it must have been for the audience back at the Capitol. (M/N) the boy on fire, being chased by a giant wall of living fire. Oh the irony.

(M/N)'s throat and nose felt like they were burning, his lungs being cooked from the inside. He went to readjust his shirt back over his nose but stopped when he felt a sharp pain from the contact. He decided to leave it be for the moment and figure it out later, that is, if he wasn't burned alive first.

It became harder and harder for (M/N) to breathe as he continued to run. It started out as major discomfort, but now each breath brought searing pain. He took cover under a large stone protruding from the hill just as the vomiting began. Everything he had ingested earlier came up and onto the ground in front of him.