The Very First Hunger Games

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Night Three in the Arena

Landing with a shocking thud, I roll over and try to ignore the blinding pain in my legs traveling up my back. The boy stares at me, looking severely annoyed even though he is the one who is armed.

"What is this?" the boy says, picking up the parachute of berries, "You were trying to poison me with Nightlock?"

With a groan, I lift myself off the ground and attempt to explain why I practically threw a parachute of poisonous berries at him.

"Look..." I start.

 "Eric"

"Eric, I really don't know what you're talking about. What's Nightlock?"

"Don't play dumb, Willow. I know what Nightlock is. And so do you."

My mouth suddenly feels dry. I don't dare to move a muscle.

"Look I don't I have time for this. Just give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." Eric says impatiently.

"I know where your sister is" I blurt out, before I can stop myself. 

He is stunned. It's obvious he wasn't expecting me to say that.

"You know where Coral is?" Eric says his voice breaking when says his sister's name.

"Yes, I could show where I last saw her..." I trail off.

"Really?" he says, looking skeptical.

 

 "Yeah, but I can't guarantee she'll still be there." I say shrugging my shoulders.

"Why should I trust someone, who attempted to poison me?"

"It's either that or risk never seeing your sister again. It's your choice."

"If you're trying to be nonchalant, it's not working. You're a terrible liar."

"If you're trying to be aggravating, it's working very well. If you're not trying, you must be naturally talented."

"Touché" he retorts. "You seemed very friendly with Coral before the games. I thought you guys were going to form an alliance or something"

"Coral strongly disapproves of alliances" I say my voice still shaking. "Which is a shame because I wouldn't want Coral to end up in the hands of someone like that evil girl April"

"Neither do I. it's my job, as her brother, to protect her, but I can't even do that" he says, his face crumpling as if was actually going to show emotion, but then the shutters come down once again. 

Eric seems genuinely upset, but there's something I don't trust about him. Maybe it's the way he flicks his emotions on and off like a switch.  In fact, there's something off about all his actions.

He certainly doesn't trust me. I can understand that. For all he knows, every word that comes out my mouth could be a lie. He seems to be a natural skeptic, but he isn't willing to take such a risk on his sister.

 

"We should start looking for Coral" Eric says, packing a water bottle, several strips of meat and some fish into a green duffel bag.

Not forgetting his spear, of course.

"What, right now?" I say, incredulously.

"Coral could be hurt. I couldn't bear the thought of never seeing her again...I have to find her"

"Okay... then we better start looking" I say, and start walking back down the trail I've been walking down all day.

Eric is waiting for his opportunity to kill me. I can tell by the way grips his spear tightly as if I might tackle him at any moment, the distrustful look in his eyes – I'd be an idiot not to realise what his plan is.

The scariest part is, I'm not even sure I care. I just want this nightmare to be over.

"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Eric questions me.

"What? Of course I'm not lost! Why would you think that?" I says, trying to sound convincing.

"Well, we've be going round in circles for about an hour now. We've past the same tree three times. You would have thought you might catch on considering you spent the entire day wandering around here collecting berries" Eric says with his stupid smirk of his.

"You've been spying on me!" I exclaim, feeling quite violated.

"Don't flatter yourself. I keep a close eye on everybody" he says as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You obviously didn't keep a close enough eye on your sister"

Almost immediately after I said it, Eric's fist collides with my face, and I collapse on the ground.

"Don't even go there, Willow." Eric shouts.  "Who do you think you are anyway?"

He grabs the collar of my jacket, and continues with his rant, screaming in my face.

"You think you're something special, but you're not. You know what you are? Annoying, dull and whiney."

It's no use pleading with him. He despises me.

Eric releases his grip and turns away. For just a second, relief washes over me. Relief that soon replaced with terror as I realise that he is picking up his spear.

"It didn't have to be this way..." Eric says, raising his spear. "... but it's what the audience wants"

If this is it, please let it be quick.

Eric launches his spear in my direction. I flinch in anticipation but the spear doesn't skewer me. It just misses my shoulder. When Eric crouches down to pick the spear up, my foot collides with his head. I don't know if it was shock, or the power of the knock, but Eric falls to the ground.

Good. If I have a head start maybe I can outrun him.

I start blindly running through the shadowy canopy of trees. The moon offers no light tonight as it is covered in a smoky, black blanket. I hope it stays that way.

Eric is close; I can hear him panting from the excessive amount of running. I carry on stumbling through the woods in a tormented parody of my usual run.

Eric grabs me by the waist, effectively pulling me down to the ground. The last thing I remember is my head crashing against a rock.