Young Killers [The 72nd Hunger games]

Chapter 15: fear, Death & Pain

                  
Meredith sat by the water still wondering how she was still alive. She has a pointy stick in her hand watching the water waiting to see a fish or something to catch. She hadn't eaten in a while and was starving. Has she watched the water, she spotted something floating. It was big and has it got closer and closer she realised it was a person. The person floated closer to Meredith and she got halfway into the water and dragged the body to shore. When she flipped the body around, she was shocked to see who it was. Meredith started to shake him.

  "Jack! Jack, wake up" She gasped

Jack did not. He was unconscious. He had water in his lungs and was dying. Meredith wasn't too sure what to do so she did the first thing that came to mind. She got on her legs and started to push on his chest.

  "Come on! Come on!" She said hoping he would wake.

She kept on pushing when Jack started to cough. She sat up and turned to his side and threw up water. A smile grew on Meredith's face to see he was still alive. Jack then turned around and saw Meredith. She threw herself at him and hugged him tight.

  "Thank god you're okay!" She said relived

Jack hugged her back

  "Good to see you're still alive" Smiled Jack

  "I don't know how but I am" Meredith smiled back "What happened to Teresa?" She suddenly asked

Jack's face went blank. He didn't want to have to tell Meredith that Teresa got killed. Jack looked down and Meredith got the memo.

  "Oh" She said sadly

Meredith didn't say anything after that.

  "Come on, lest go" Jack then said

Jack picked up Meredith and put her on his back. They started to walk through the hot forest. Both were very thirsty and tried but kept on going until they found a safe place to stay. After a long time, Jack spotted this cave. He made his way towards there and saw that it was a perfect place to take shelter for the night that was approaching quickly. They made their way to the deepest end of the cave and Jack put Meredith down.

  "I still don't understand why you're helping me stay alive" Meredith suddenly said

  "Well, you are only just a child and you don't deserve to die killed in these games" Jack answered

  "No one deserves to die in these games but why do you want to help me"

Jack sighed "I had a little sister. She was your age when she got selected for the Hunger games 3 years ago. I was broken and couldn't believe it was my little sister whose name came out of the ball. I wanted her to win but in my heart, I knew that she wouldn't make it. I only hoped that if she died it wouldn't be because she would get killed by another tribute but because she ate something poisonous or just killed by something non painful" Jack paused for a moment.

  "What happened to her?" Meredith ended up asking

  "Well, she didn't last very long. She was able to make it past the cornucopia but got hunted down by the career tributes. They were brutal and all they wanted to do was put up a gruesome show for their watchers. They hunted down the tributes by age, started with the youngest, which made my sister their first target. They shot her with arrows and tied her to a tree and she died a slow and painful death. It was horrible to watch." Jack seemed to want to cry has he talked about what happened "You remind me a lot of my sister and I don't want anyone else to live what she did. I know I can't do anything about the past and future tributes but I could do something about it now"

Meredith felt sad and touched about what Jack said. She didn't know any of this and just wished she could do something to help him.

  "Now get some rest, I'll keep first watch" Added Jack

Meredith didn't want to sleep. She wanted to keep on asking Jack questions but decided against it. Meredith laid down on the hard stone ground and closed her eyes and slept. Jack watched over her has he thought about his little sister. He would do everything he could to keep this little girl alive. She deserved to live and see the future.

The morning came and Jack stayed up all night since he didn't want to wake up Meredith. In the morning, Jack and Meredith left the cave to go hunting for some food and find some water to drink. Jack carried Meredith on his back has always. Today was a pretty good day. Jack was able to catch two lizards, one for the girl and one for him. Even if it was small, it felt good for them to finally get food in their system. They then set off to try and find water. Jack started to hear the sound of water flowing which meant they had to be close to a river or something. Jack put Meredith down next to a tree.

  "I'll go check out what over there, I'll be right back" Jack told Meredith and set off.

Meredith was dying of thirst and heat and just hoped Jack would find some water. She sat leaning on the tree looking around making sure no one was coming.

Jack was pleased to see he had found a river. He plunged his head inside and felt so refreshed. He drank some water and threw some over his body. He then set off to go get Meredith and bring her there. When he got back, his heart dropped. Meredith had a look of terror has someone held a knife to her neck. Jack took his out of his pocket and pointed it at the girl. It was the girl from district 5, Malix, who held Meredith hostage. She had a smirk on her face has she looked at Jack.

  "I've been following you two for some time now and I finally have you were I want you." Smirked Malix "Throw your knife over or the girl gets it"

  "What makes you think I care for the girl" Jack answered back

  "I know how close you are to her. Every tribute does" continued Malix "I can't believe I'm going to be the one to kill the great Jack Atlas. You got a hell of a target on your back. Now, throw me your knife."

Jack smirked at her and did what she asked and threw her his knife. It hit her in the head. Here grip loosened on Meredith and she fell to the ground. BOOM a cannon goes off. Meredith fell back on the floor since her leg couldn't hold her up. She looked terrified. Jack picked her up and brought her to the lake.

  "You okay?" Jack asked Meredith has he put her down next to the river.

She didn't say anything, only nodded. She started to drink some of the water. She started to think of drowning herself so she could finish this but ended up scaring herself instead. Death was always her biggest fear. The wind started blowing harder and harder. Jack looked up at the sky and saw it was filled with black clouds. This didn't look good at all.

  "We should probably get moving and find some shelter" Jack told Meredith

He picked her up again and started walking. The wind made it hard to walk, it seemed like a hurricane was going to irrupt. Branches where flying off the trees. Jack had to move away so he wouldn't get hit by them. It was so windy, the water of the river was splashing everywhere. This was bad very bad and they had to get away. Jack tried to find his way back to the cave but couldn't seem to find his way back.

  "Jack! Watch out!" Meredith shouted

A branch came flying towards them and hit Jack. He fell to the ground on top of Meredith. Meredith shouted in pain. Jack moved away and looked up again to see that this wasn't going to get better. He took Meredith on his back again and started to run. They had to find their way out of this hurricane and fast...