The Hunger Games: Johanna Mason

Chapter 6

I know I said I was done, but I got bored and checked Wattpad. If there's anyone still interested then...

Let's try this again.

~

It was such a stupid mistake. It was one that might cost her the game. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She kept muttering those words in her head as she ran through the thicket of branches and thorns, not caring if her face and arms were scratched. She just needed to get away.

It had been nearly a week into the Games, and she had survived for the first three days with some confidence, until she lost her axe. 

She scolded herself for the umpteenth time for her carelessness, as she kept running. She had gone four days without it now, and if she didn't look weak at first, she definitely did look it now. Johanna had almost no more resources at her disposal, and her water supply had started to become scarce. 

She found a small watering hole at the center of the arena, that was in no way connected to the streams with the bloodthirsty mutts. The problem was that the Careers ended up finding it a day after she did, so she hoarded as much as she could and left. 

Unknowingly, she had left her axe at the cave behind the watering hole, since she had been cleaning off the blood from the game that she captured for lunch. Anxiety and exhaustion had taken over her body, and she hadn't been on top of herself after the first three nights of no sleep.

She got careless. She wouldn't dare go near that place without a proper weapon. Since it was the only water source, Careers had been guarding the place with such adamant faithfulness, she wondered how the other tributes were faring with their water supplies. 

Now, she was stuck with no means of defending herself, as the swarm of bee-like mutts forced her into the direction of the watering hole again, but only through that area of the forest where the branches were thick, and thorns existed on them. There had been no other alternative, with them seeming to swarm from all sides, as if pushing her toward death. 

There were eight of them left at this point, since the game progressed so fast, with the Careers blood-hungry and impatient this time. Half of those were the Careers left, and the other half were the nomads just trying to get by everyday. Johanna was cautious not to be seen by anyone, even those that she perceived that she could take on. She was hungry, thirsty, and sleep-deprived. Her energy was at an all-time low, and the stinging from her wounds wasn't helping.

Just as fast as they came, the bees suddenly disappeared, as if they vanished from thin air.

Johanna fell to her knees, coughing, trying to vomit out something but nothing was in her stomach to vomit out. Her breath was rapid, as if her lungs were trying to cling onto the oxygen passing through, without much avail. She glanced at her wounds, scratches with some blood seeping out. At this point, all she could do was cry and feel sorry for herself. What was the point of acting weak?

She already was. There was no act anymore. Even she acknowledged that there was nothing in her to survive anymore. She was led into this trap, with no means of defense on her, and even more wounded than she initially had been. 

Her tears tasted like salt and blood by the time they reached her mouth. Her face stung even more from it. She spat the tears out and crawled to a tree trunk, balling up and hugging her knees. She had no doubts that the Careers were nearby. Tending to her wounds was all she could do for now, with hiding being the first priority. 

With all her strength, she mustered climbing up the tree branch, eventually finding a canopy that would take her weight, and she settled on it, face-up. Her ears were acutely aware of everything that was happening below her, and she hid in the shelter of the leaves and shadows. 

She breathed in and out slowly, trying to maintain her calm. It was hard trying not to cry though, because every frustration of not having her axe just suddenly came at a realization.

No defense. No way of even hacking through the branches and thorns earlier. No easy way of hunting game. 

She had been reliant so much on it, that she realized she should have started killing them off at the start.

The only way to get out of this rut was to get her axe back. She had to get her courage and confidence back, just enough to sneak into the watering hole to get it. She had spied on it a few times, and it seemed that the Careers were so stuck on their routines, they didn't think of doing routes around the watering hole. They thought that everything useful had just been the water. No notice of the axe.

If she could just get it back...

There had to be a flaw in their routine. Someone was going to slip up just like she did. She just had to wait and watch first. 

She ripped some cloth off the sleeve of her shirt. She recognized some of the leaves of the trees as well, and picked them off based on the healing properties. She chewed on them and spat at the piece of cloth and ran it through her arms, face, and any other exposed skin that had been scratched.

It lessened the sting, and she didn't feel as sorry for herself anymore.

She needed a game plan, and she needed one soon, since she started to hear the crunching of footsteps come closer to her direction.