YouTube Hunger Games

5: Worries

 Mark's POV

We had gotten up early this morning, not wanting to waste any time with waiting for someone to come and find us. We were ready to go, and despite our injuries, we had an upbeat aura about us. Bob had suffered from a heat stroke yesterday afternoon, and we bagged it and called it a night there. This allowed us to get up early when no one was moving around yet, and gave us the element of freedom. Yami remained unharmed, although sore from our pace set yesterday, and Wade had a long scratch up his arm that was ugly looking, but neither infected nor getting worse. It was wrapped up now, and Yami had done the job of setting the wound excellently. My eyes wandered over to Jack as he walked next to me, eyes up and alert, ready to jump at the smallest notion of danger. It was a surprise that we kept our quick pace from yesterday, despite his leg injury, and he was still at it today. He refused to slow us down, even if that meant his leg went numb and his limp making him move like a zombie. He had twisted his ankle, throwing himself at me to move us out of the way of a throwing knife when I had tried to go for the middle. No matter how often I thanked him, he only brushed it off with a friendly smile.

As of now, we were moving again, our pace still quick and Jack still waving away our offers to slow. He even traveled up front with me, carrying a bow, some arrows, and two knives. He had gathered a whole bag of just knives at the beginning, and he handed them out to us as well, still having some for himself. Bob walked just behind us with Wade, both keeping up small talk and holding most of the items we had in a bag, and Yami took up the rear with a watchful eye and a large sword. None of us really said much, as mostly we were listening, but after things calmed down from yesterday, it seemed we were more relaxed after a while.

What I was taking in was the scenery around us. I had to constantly remind myself that this was just a game, and the fact that the large leafy plants around us felt just as waxy as they looked, and the moss underfoot was a soft as the packed dirt was firm, it made it all the more to marvel over. For realism, this was something rather intense. The sun seemed to affect us with actual heat, something we learned the hard way yesterday, and we could feel the wind rather than just seeing it blow through the treetops. The water that we had found yesterday was just as cold as one would expect, and tasted crystal clear. It was mind boggling that something like this had been created, it was close to a second reality.

"Do you think Felix will really come after me?" Jack asked suddenly, and I looked over at him as he limped alongside me. He caught my glance, flashing me a grin and chuckling. "Don't think I'm joking here, I'm actually curious. Do you think he will?"

"No, Jack. I don't think that he will." I told him, keeping in my laughter but not hiding my smile. "He said so himself that his goal was to keep Marzia alive, and I think he intends to keep it that way. Besides, we're the largest group here. If he was going to try to, I have a feeling that he wouldn't make it very far."

"You would kill him to protect me?" Jack asked, his voice quiet now. I stopped, having to consider this. It was just a game, after all. A game meant for killing, and if I was going to protect my friends, then maybe killing is what I would have to do.

"I don't see why it would be a problem." I said uneasily, knowing full well that it would be a problem for me. I wasn't the type for killing let alone injuring another person with the intent to do so.

"Because, you heard what Wade said." Jack told me. "The killing here is more realistic than you might think, and I doubt that you would do something like that." I remembered back to the night before, when we were setting up camp and getting ready to sleep. Wade had spoken about being in the center area, going for the bunker. No one seemed to remember what YouTuber it was, but someone immediately turned and started attacking people. The blood, pain, all the injuries the group had obtained, this game was maybe a bit too realistic, but it's not like we could back out now, no matter how much of a killer I was or wasn't.