No Place Like Home

Part 9

Once camp was set up, it was dark, and Phil had set up a fire whilst Dan nailed his spile to a tree.

He let Alyssa take the first drink, and then Dan had a drink, and Phil did afterwards.

Once they had all had a drink, Dan retrieved the sile and joined Alyssa and Phil next to the fire.

"Not seen anybody yet," Phil said. "And no cannons."
"So, hardly anyone has died today?" Dan asked, and Phil nodded. "That's new."
"But don't forget about the people at the beach," Phil said.

Just as they said that, the music came, and the holograms appeared in the sky:

Ronald District 8

Ashley District 7

Roman District 8

"God, nobody seems to be dying," Dan mumbled.
"Except for the people we've killed," Phil stated.

"So there's 23 left, including us 3," Alyssa pointed out. "There's 20 left to kill."
Dan sighed and said, "We're gonna be in here forever!"

Alyssa's head shot up, and Dan's eyes widened, "I mean, no, we're not. It's just the Capitol decided to double the tributes, which is annoying."

Alyssa smiled, "No, I get it."
They paused before Phil said, "Right, you guys get some sleep, I'm gonna keep watch."

"Wait," Dan said. "Are we walking further into the jungle tomorrow? See if we can catch some tributes?"
"Yeah," Phil said. "You up for it, Alyssa?"
"Um, yeah," she seemed unsure. "I just don't want to be a burden on you guys, you at least have a chance of surviving."

Dan and Phil looked at each other, and Dan shuffled over to Alyssa, picking 3 knives from his belt, and said enthusiastically, "Look, put these down your sleeves, that way if someone comes, you can throw these at them and that gives us all a chance of survival. That's something we need you to do, it's vital for giving us all a head start. Can you do that for us?"

Alyssa took the knives and grinned, "Yes, I can!"
Dan flashed a movie-star smile, "Perfect. And you're not a burden on us, you could be the key to our survival."

Alyssa grinned, and Dan gave a small wink, "People don't suspect people like you."
"That's something I'm good at," Alyssa smiled. "That can be my thing! Your thing is being clever," she pointed at Phil who grinned proudly. "And your thing is helping people!"

Dan smiled, "Of course it's your thing. Now get some sleep, we've got a long day tomorrow."

She nodded friskily and excitedly, before putting the three knives down her shoulder-length gloves.

She laid down on a leaf, and fell asleep almost instantly.

"You're good with kids," Phil said lightly. "Had any siblings?"
"Just one, a little brother," Dan said and sat next to Phil. "Same age as Alyssa, well, he would be if I knew him."
"Where is he now?" Phil asked curiously.
"He's with my dad," Dan said and cleared his throat. "In the Capitol. My mum died just before they left."
"Why'd they leave you?" Phil was intrigued with the story. "I hope you don't mind me asking."

"It's fine," Dan looked down, and started cleaning his axe. Even though it was clean. "When people from the districts leave to live in the Capitol, they have to leave someone behind. You see, every person in every district has purpose. And their purposes were getting taken to the Capitol to be taken advantage of. But there has to be a specific amount of people in the districts, otherwise they shut it down, that's what happened to district 13. District 4 was over-populating; you and your family didn't know because your parents worked in the wealthy business, your parents work for the Capitol in District 4. My dad and brother work for the Capitol in the Capitol. Since District 4 was over-populating, they were dragging people from homes to take to the Capitol, but to keep it from under-populating, they had to leave one or two people from each family behind. And that person from my family was me."

"I remember that day," Phil said. "They took my cousin Alex who was living with us."

"Yep," Dan nodded, and then looked down. "But my dad chose to leave me behind, and... he never told me why."
Phil looked down, "I'm sorry."
"No point," Dan sighed. "You don't need to be sorry, nothing to be sorry for. It was the Capitol's fault District 4 needed a wipe-out."

Dan looked back at Alyssa, "She reminds me of my brother. Small, cheerful, skittish, good runner, helpful, sensitive. I guess that's what all 11-year-olds are like."
"Is that why you're so protective of her?" Phil asked.
"Um," Dan thought for a minute. "I don't know, I think so. I just want to give her, her best chance."

Phil cleared his throat, "You'd better get some rest."
"Wait," Dan stopped Phil. "Thank you, for listening to me. I can hardly find people these days that are willing to do that."

Phil smiled, "I'm always here if you need to talk."
Dan smiled, and then walked to a patch of grass and laid down to sleep.

He took one last look at Phil, and then another look at Alyssa before falling into sleep, but not for long, as almost an hour later;
all Hell broke loose.