No Place Like Home

Part 7

They finally made their way to the beach again, when they counted up the tributes left as they bandaged up their injuries, "25 left, Dan." Phil stated.

Dan nodded, "Yeah, hopefully the games will end soon."

Phil sighed and said, "I'm going to go and get some food, I managed to catch a trident."

Dan nodded, "I'll keep watch."

Phil made his way into the water, trident in hand, as Dan looked around with an axe in his fist.

He wasn't going to let Phil die before anyone else.
Just as Dan was settled, he heard something.
A scream.
But this time, it was all too familiar.
It was Annie.

Annie was his best friend who moved to the Capitol, but when Dan was taken there to join the games, she hardly left his side and fought hard to train him.

And she was screaming. She was screaming for him. She was screaming in pain.

"Dan!" she screamed. "Dan, help me! Please!"
Dan's head shot up, as his guts turned cold and his heart began to race.

"Annie?" Dan yelled. "Annie!"
"Help me!" She continued to scream. "Dan, help me!"

She screamed some more, and Dan scrambled up, his head faint from panic.

Phil had heard the screams and was rushing to the shore, "Dan, no!"

Dan refused to listen, and plunged into the jungle.

"Goddammit Dan," Phil mumbled and ran after him.

Dan was already halfway through the jungle, "Annie, hold on! I'm coming!"
"Dan!" she screamed.
He followed her screams and cries, halfway to tears himself.

He came to a stop when he noticed a black bird swirling above his head.
The screams were coming from the bird.

"What?" Dan breathed.
Then he realised. They were JabberJay's.

But something sent an ice cold feeling down his spine, as Phil skidded to a stop next to him and grabbed his arm.

"Dan, stop!" Phil exclaimed. "They're only JabberJay's, it's not Annie!"
"JabberJay's copy sounds," Dan said shakily. "How do you think they got those screams, Phil?"

Phil's heart dropped, as more birds flew in above their head.

"Dan, help me!" they screamed in a female voice. "Help me!"

A swarm of birds appeared, all screaming and crying in a medley of Annie's pained voice.

Dan was now crying, he didn't want to think about how those screams were collected, but that was all that was on his mind.

"Dan, come on!" Phil grabbed his arms as 100 black birds all screaming in Annie's voice swarmed over them, pecking at their skin. "Dan, we have to go."

Phil guided Dan through the jungle as Dan held his hands firmly over his ears, crying silently.

They were almost at the beach, but all Dan could hear and think about was Annie's pained screams, and what they did to collect them.
"We're almost there, Dan!" Phil exclaimed.

They got to the beach, where they fell and rolled.
The JabberJay's seemed to hit a force-field.

But Phil noticed that he was the only one on the beach, and when he looked at the force-field, Dan was crouched with his hands over his ears, screaming.

The force-field wasn't letting back through the people whose screams meant the most.

Dan was stuck behind that force-field, being forced to listen to his best friend's screams until God-knows-when.