Safe and Sound (The Hunger Games)

Chapter 14-The First Encounter

The night falls, and I munch on some of my dried apples, leaving a good majority of them for later. After the bloodbath, not much happened. There haven't been new deaths, so the people in the Capitol are waiting for more action. I took a little nap after I made a net out of the long leaves, which rolled up wraps me to the tree.

The anthem starts playing, and I direct my attention to the sky. The Capitol symbol glows in the sky while the anthem booms in the arena. Then the dead tributes faces appear. The male tribute from district three first appears. That means Toby, Crystal, Mason, and Brandi are still alive. The next face to appear in the sky is the female from district five. A huge rush of joy goes through me. Elliot is alive! I will have to find him tomorrow. After the girl's face disappears, the male and female tributes from district seven appear, then the female from eight. That was the girl who Toby killed, the one who begged him to spare her life. In a moment, her face is replaced with the female from district nine, and then the boy from ten. The female tributes from eleven and twelve have also died. I slump back against the tree pretty satisfied, and begin to drift off to sleep.

I must have slept for a few hours before I wake up. Shivering, I quietly take out the jacket from my bag, and put it on. I close my eyes once again, and try to fall back to sleep.

In the distance, I hear someone walking. I open my eyes and grip my spears that still lay in my lap. The figure starts to walk closer to me, and I start to panic. I hug the tree and breathe heavily through my nose. I haven't run into any tributes yet, so this may be my first one.

Spying over the tribute, I notice a group of tributes following him or her. Within a second, they attack the tribute, and a cannon fires. Then I hear cheering, as they continue walking towards the cornucopia. They must be the careers, my allies!

I decide I should join them now, Elliot must be worrying about where I am. So, I undo the net-rope, put away my jacket, and climb down the tree with my spears and bag.

One minute I am quietly walking toward my distant allies, and the next I am tackled to the ground by another tribute. My bag and spears have landed a few feet away from us, and he seems to be unarmed. I groan as he pins my wrists to the ground. He has an evil smile on his face as he punches me in the jaw. I grit my teeth, and then kick him in the groin. He releases my wrists and falls to the side. I stand up unsteadily, and wipe my bloody mouth. He gets up immediately and charges at me. I stumble to the side, and he turns around in fury. He kicks my side, and I fall to my knees. I clench my waist and he attacks me again. On my back, he pins me down to the ground.

"Now let’s try this again." He says coldly, as he punches me in the face again. I feel the blood trickle down my face and feel the pain in my ribs. I scream involuntary, because the pain is too much.

"Shut up, will you?" He arrogantly says as he looks around. I push him to the side and stand up and start to clumsily run away. He is obviously in better physical condition, and catches up to me. He kicks me in the back, and I fall forward out of breath.

"You won't give up, will you? Let’s see if this time I can knock you out." He teases. He punches me with such force on my forehead, my vision starts to blur. My hearing starts to fade in and out too. Am I dying? I have no strength left in me, so I don't fight back. I feel a punch to my shoulder that I dislocated a few days ago, and I scream with pain. This is it, and I didn't even last the first day. He throws one more punch at me, and I blackout.