Safe and Sound || Hunger Games

Chapter Twenty Seven - The Feast

Chapter Twenty Seven - The Feast

It took until day sixteen of the Games for another tribute to die. It was the boy from 11, which came as a surprise to both Grayson and I. The boy from 11 was tall, muscular and looked deadly. He looked like the sort of person that was kind, but could snap your neck if you dared provoke them. But now he was no more. It was now the evening of day sixteen and there were now six left and we all knew what that meant - a feast. Grayson and I had moved on from the cave and were now perched in a tree, waiting with bated breath for an announcement to tell us that there was going to be a feast. It was a scary thought and I really didn't want to face it, but I supposed I had to. If Grayson or I wanted a chance to survive, we would need to participate in this one. But in this mini recreation of the bloodbath, we would be together and twice as powerful.

Grayson was whittling a stick with one of his knives, just because he wanted to pass the time. I was watching the mockingjays pass quiet tunes around within their groups, listening in to how their tunes changed and overlapped, creating a beautiful melody out of a few notes. It was odd, really, thinking about how the mockingjays became so strong and how the had so many of them in total. It was amazing that it started off with a mutt, that eventually turned into a beautiful songbird. That sort of thing gave me hope and faith.

We had each had a bath, separately, on day fifteen in a pool we found. I had then re-braided my hair in its usual side plait and Grayson (being Grayson) weaved the mockingjay feather back into the plait in my own, signature mockingjay style. It felt good to be clean again and not covered with blood that could of either been my own or have come from someone else.

I was listening to a new song the mockingjays had started up, when suddenly, the sound of trumpets and the anthem of Panem rung out loudly. It shocked me and I nearly fell out of the tree, but Grayson dived and caught me around the middle, just before I managed to plummet to my death. We ended up in some odd position, with me sliding off the tree, my arms slung around Grayson's neck, clutching to him for dear life and Grayson half hanging off the branch, holding around my middle, his hands on the upper half of my back. If one of us slipped, we'd both break our necks.

"Attention, tributes. Tomorrow, at dawn, there will be a feast at the Cornucopia. We have been kind enough to give you some extra and personal supplies and even some sponsors that were sent in for each District that will help all of you survive this year's Hunger Games. We expect a very good turnout." Claudius Templesmith's voice said to us loudly, surrounding the whole arena. I looked up at Grayson, who gave me a glance, his eyebrow raised. We both then looked back up towards the sky, squinting in the fading sunlight. "Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favour."

Grayson looked down at me again.

"Um, could you maybe...you know." I said. Grayson blinked, but then he hurried to help me back onto he branch, apologising. He gave me a quick check over to make sure I was feeling okay, before sitting back down again, resting the back of his head against the limb of the tree.

"So I guess there's no saying that we aren't going to the feast tomorrow?" He said. I hadn't heard this hint of fear in his voice for a while, but now it was loud and clear, "I mean, I want to because supplies, but do you think we'll both get out of it in one piece?"

"We got past the Careers. And the fire. And, and...you know. I think we'll make it." I said to him as I reached into my backpack, fetching the sleeping bag. Grayson took his belt off as I smoothed out the sleeping bag, the black material cool under my fingers. Grayson clambered in and I followed.

"Even so," He said, "You know what feasts are like. The one last year was brutal. Six, starving tributes on a plain with long grass and a single loaf of bread with a flask of water..."