Swinging From The Branches ~ Lexyon Perti

Victims and Venom ~ Day 3

Light floods through my eyelids, waking me up from my burrow in the ground. Blinking a few times to fully allow my senses to return to me, I shake off the leaves that had fallen in the night and spit out dirt that had fallen in my mouth.

Oh well, better get used to the ground if you're not going to live in a tree. How pathetic, district 7 and can't even climb a tree.

I look around as this train of thought ravages my mind, checking for other tributes. Seeing none, I sit up, disturbing the peaceful, lazy movements of the fern above me. I then stand up to my full height, shaking off the tarp and stuffing it into my pack. I take a drink of the purified water from the capitol and eat two of the fruit I had picked yesterday; feeling as if that would be enough to satisfy me now, I began to trek through the forrest.

Well fed and rested, I now could think with a clear head. Priority number one and two were taken care of, leaving priority number three-15 priority number threes. Becoming a victor without a weapon would certainly be a feat, one that I wouldn't accomplish. I needed a weapon, and I needed one fast. Apparently, the capitol didn't like me too much because nothing was falling from the sky in my favor yet.

So I would have to make do with what lie around me. I was most familiar with an axe since I wielded one since I was 13. I would need, a branch and a very sharp rock for a basic weapon; that would do.

Finding the optimal materials was harder than I thought it would be. A branch was a little easier to find as I broke a lower one off of a tree with my foot. It was way too long, but that would be remedied later, now to find a rock. I scoured the ground, finding mostly large rocks and boulders nestled at the base of the trees. After roaming around-keeping in mind to stay near my camp-I finally found a smaller rock that would do if I whittled it down a bit.

Returning to the location of a nearby boulder, I set the branch down and began bashing my rock, chipping away at it gradually. It must have taken an hour until I was satisfied with the size and shape of the object, grinding it against the rock to sharpen the edge to a deadly degree. I ran the edge against my finger to test it, the small trail of blood satisfying me as I suckle on the self-inflicted wound.

The branch I shortened with my foot, breaking off short segments until I was satisfied with the handle length. Next, I held the end branch between my legs as I carved a hole the size of the rock into the end of it. This took sweat and blood as the newly sharpened rock cut against my fingers. Eventually, I had a satisfactory hole and shoved the rock into the branch, beating it against the ground to get it nice and snug, even going so far as to beat it on a tree, leaving indents on the trunk. I didn't want my weapon coming apart in the middle of a fight, now did I?

Now that I was armed and could defend myself, I began trekking farther and farther from my camp. A mile out, I finally hear something other than my footsteps. Quickly ducking behind a tree, I try to steady the pounding of my heart when I recognize conversation. 

Those were tributes ahead of me.

I spare a look around the tree and see one male and one female, not careers I see from their lack of supplies. I debate slinking away from the pair-after all two are better than one-when the weight of my weapon reminds me I am armed, and from what I can tell, they were not. I stay hidden a bit more, listening to their conversation and trying to pick out names. I want to know who I am about to murder.

"Come on Brooke, pack up already." The male mutters. So, that was her name.

"No way, we haven't run into anyone yet Adam. Chill out." The female replies. It made sense now, district partners, the easiest alliance to form. Also, the hardest and most heart wrenching one to break. I would have to kill both of them unless I wanted one of them to run after me.