The Silence of the Tribute

Third Day

I didn't sleep last night. My mind wouldn't stop buzzing, ideas kept coming to me.

I sit up, and pull out my water. I manage to only take a small drink.

I slip it back inside.

I jump to the jungle floor, and hunt for berries.

I know which ones will make a good dye, and collect them into a pile. When smashed the juice is black.

I construct a makeshift pouch out of leaves, and grass and slip the berries inside.

My stomach rumbles with hunger.

I pick up a leaf and bite it. My stomach twist from the taste, but I gobble the rest down.

I sit with my back to a tree trunk, hidden between large roots.

I haven't seen many tributes yet, which is odd.

I get up and walk. For a few minutes I was at peace. This jungle wouldn't be half bad if it wasn't a man made creation of the capitol.

Then I hear it. A buzz. I look around, my heart races.

Is that a tribute?

I walk faster, but the buzz seems to come from all around me.

I hear a scream in the distance. I run.

What is going on?!

My arm begins to itch, so I scratch. Then another area on my body. I look down and mosquitos begin to swarm me.

I swat at them, but it doesn't help. They surround me.

I crouch into a fetal position. The parasites don't stay for long, flying off to ruin someone else's day.

I stand, a tingling in my toes alert me.

I walk trying to make no noise at all.

My arm goes numb. I stop to stretch it when the parachute drops. I quickly grab it as the tingling continues to spread over me.

I open the parachute and read a slip of paper.

You know we love you. We're throwing a feast in your honor! Come to the cornucopia to receive your goodie!

I throw the parachute away from me, and run.

We're not dying fast enough for the capitol.

In the excitement of the feast announcement, I hadn't realised I couldn't feel one part of my body. I was completely numb.

My steps became awkward, and clumsy. I stare at my limbs, willing them to come back alive.

Snap.

A branch snaps in front me. I snap my head up, and come face to face with the boy from seven.

He turns quickly and scampers up a tree.

I notice that his one leg looked lame.

"I won't hurt you!" I yell out at him patheticly. We're in the hunger games, nobody would believe what I just said.

I fall over, unable to react.

My body must be reacting to the mosquito bites.

Sleep calls me to follow, but I resist. I'm laying on the forest floor, a tribute will defiantly fine me soon.

So why don't I get up?

I try to stand but my relaxed muscles won't hold my weight.

I slowly tear off my backpack remembering I have some kind of medicine in there.

I open the tube. I look at my leg, a bump forms underneath by pants.

I use my knife to cut the leg off the one side. What I see is horrific.

I scoot as fast as I can over to a bush and pluck a huge leaf off it. I cover it with my medicine, and wrap it around my thigh.

I slowly keep scooting back until I'm inbetween huge roots again.

It would be easy to follow my tracks, but oh well.

I clutch my knife and bite down on a piece of bark. The medicine stings my wound.

I have a fire in my soul that can't be put out.

I pull myself up. My feet and hands have feeling again.

I slowly stumble through the woods. I need to get to the cornucopia, not for the backpack, but to unravel my plan.

Finally the castle comes in view, and I hide in some nearby bushes. I grab my berries and smash them up.

I take my two fingers and paint myself black. I didn't hair into the juice, and let it dry. I plunge my knife into the dirt to make it harder to see.

I've never wanted to win the games this bad. I have to win for Sodi, for District 6, for me.

The feeling in my body is back, but now I have a limp, but oh well.

I creep into the castle entry, keeping an eye out for tributes. My knife in hand, ready to attack.

Let's do this.

I maneuver the hallways, until I come across the same musty room this whole thing began in.

A few backpacks are left. Mine sits there beckoning my name, but that's not what I came here for.

I go up against the wall and feel for the tapestries.

I find the one I came across on the first day.

I take a quick glance around me, and lift the heavy material out of my way. I step through the doorway I noticed earlier.

Inside its dark. I sit in the corner and wait. I wait for the voices of tributes. I wait for the games to be done. I wait to regain my life.

I sit in silence awaiting my destiny.