The Taste of Death ~ Hunger Games- Finnick Odair/OC FanFiction

Chapter 33

Oh, you thought her day was done? That's so funny! No where near done, fellow readers, nowhere near...

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As always, take care and stay safe! ~ CANGEL

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Scarlet Wolfe

     Scarlet crouched down to examine the snare, her gloved fingers brushing aside the loose snow to reveal a white rabbit, its body lifeless, caught in her trap. She removed the hare from the trap with ease before resetting it. She wasn't sure if more animals would pass through here, but it was worth a try.

     Her stomach growled in anticipation of the meal; she hadn't eaten anything substantial since the Games began yesterday morning. Scarlet placed the dead hare in her larger pack with the sticks and twigs before continuing on in search of a place to build a small fire.

***

     Scarlet paused at the edge of the woods and stared at what lay before her. She'd come this way after spotting the open clearing from the seemingly endless pines, never expecting to find a massive river here. At least spanning fifty feet wide, its icy surface sparkled and glistened against the rising sun.

     Along the edge of the river was lined with snow covered ice, making it impossible for her to determine where land ended and the river began, but she could see the rapid speed of the river dragging chunks of ice passed.

      The other side of the river was dense with pine woods, a formidable mountain range towering in the background. From where she hid in the pines, she could see the snow clinging to the peaks and she imagined the caves that might linger there filled with crystals. Her fingers twitched at her side, longing for a familiar piece of carving material.

     The sight of it all was both beautiful and daunting.

     As Scarlet made her way into the opening, she couldn't shake the paranoia as she exposed herself. She continuously glanced around her, looking over her shoulder with a blade in each hand.

     As she got closer to the river, she could see the weeds that lingered near the edge of the river, popping up through the snow. No one would willingly get into that water, and it was too wide to attack from the other side. That knowledge at least provided her a bit of security as she settled in the snow on her knees, keeping her eyes on the woods around her as she pulled some twigs and sticks from her larger pack and the kerosene and matches from her smaller pack.

     It took a while to get the fire going with Scarlet building a small snow wall to protect the baby fire from the harsh wind. Though the branches were the driest that she could find, they were still frozen and stiff with frost and ice, but eventually they started to burn.

     Scarlet settled back on her bottom as she slowly fed the fire a few more smaller sticks before moving to slightly bigger ones. When she was sure that it wouldn't go out, Scarlet retrieved the metal cup from her pack along with the empty canteen and filled it with snow before placing it on top of the burning coals.

     While the water boiled Scarlet pulled the hare from her pack and traveled a short distance away from the fire to the edge of the woods where she could prepare the animal to be cooked.