The Starving Artist: Hunger Games 2015 Contest Entries

Esmeralda's Mutts

I stand at the edge of the toxic water surrounding the Cornucopia. The place is desolate — well, it's always been desolate, but it's worse now. The bodies of the tributes who died in the blood bath have been removed, but the eerie silence leaves too much time to remember what happened here.

My feet lead me towards the Cornucopia, and my heart sinks. So much destruction happened here. Some of the deaths were my fault. Mae was my fault. She needed to be killed, of course, but it doesn't make it any easier.

My ally, Cara Everest, is gone. She didn't make it out of the bloodbath like I did. Alone in the middle of the swamp, I let the sadness and guilt I've been pushing away crush me. I drop to my knees and weep. The things I have done here already have caused so much pain.

I don't want to let it change me. I didn't want to become the monster I was once. There is no way to protect anyone here from the sort of being I am.

I suck in a deep breath and stare through blurred vision at the sprawling Cornucopia. There's still some stuff to get here, but I don't know if I can bear to get up just yet. Tears still drip down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Everest. I should've done more." I slam my fist into the ground with a whimper, and more tears come as pain erupts in my knuckles. "I should've done more to keep you safe. We were allies, darn it all!"

I know she can't hear me. But it makes me feel a little better to vent my frustration aloud.

***

I meet up with my ally, Ian, in the mountains. He and the two tributes from 8 have camped out in a small cave a few hours from the swamp and the lake. With a friendly nod, I sit down next to Ian and start dumping out the things I found at the Cornucopia.

They watch in interest as I spread out my array of leaves, berries, and roots. Valora scoots over and picks up the Virginia creeper berries. "These look like tiny blueberries."

Seriously? They're too shiny for that. And not even the right shade of blue. I roll my eyes and go to pull the remaining herbs out of my bag.

Ian clears his throat and starts to say something. "Valora... You shouldn't—"

Then it dawns on me that she's putting it into her mouth. "Don't eat that!" I slap her hand away with a startled gasp.

The berry rolls away from us and sits in the firelight, gleaming maliciously.

"Don't touch any of this. Capiche, Hayes?" I lean closer to her, my eyes narrowing.

She's trembling as she stares at me in fear.

I'm not trying to frighten her. She needs to know she can't touch my stuff safely, though. She's also given me quite the fright. Taking a deep breath, I soften my voice. "Valora, that would've killed you. We don't have antidotes for it here."

Her eyes pool with tears. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Because I didn't think you'd try to eat unidentified plants." My voice raises an octave as I realize how close I came to killing someone by mistake. My hands shake as I collect the berries and rinse them off with some of my water.

She looks away. "I'm sorry."

My tone becomes acidic. "Whatever... I couldn't care less if you kill yourself."

She hangs her head, and Ian speaks up. "She didn't know, Az. Leave her be."

He's right. Of course he is. I'm being a jerk. 8 doesn't have much in the way of plants or wildlife; there's no way she could know. I'm just scared, and I tend to lash out instead of owning up to that fear.