The morning starts off with me taking inventory of all the food I have to eat over the next few days. Only a few handfuls of dried nuts and fruit, an uncooked rabbit and some burdock root. I'll need a way to cook the rabbit somehow, and to make a stew with the roots. I won't be able to light a fire here, because Alby and Harriet will see the smoke.
Alby and Harriet! A thought occurs to me, and I realise that they've probably set up a fire that I can use. If they've gone out hunting, I can fill up the water bottle I stole from them at the same time as using their fire. I shove the sleeping bag, the blanket, the packaged nuts and fruit, the burdock root, and the torch and matches, inside the bag, and stand up quickly. It's long past sunrise, so they've probably either gone hunting or even started to move away from their campground for good. Maybe they've even started to look for the person who's stolen half their supplies.
I smile, almost proud of myself, until the happy feeling turns to a sort of guilt, or dread. I've stolen their supplies, and I'm happy about it? I mean, I am happy, but it feels wrong to take pleasure in weakening other tributes.
Shrugging it off, I begin to make my footsteps as light as possible as I head towards the cave with the waterfall. It only takes me a few minutes until I reach their campground. I don't hear them from inside, and when I sneak a look inside the crevice, the weapons have been taken and there's no sign of them in there. They must have begun to hunt again, but I know they haven't actually deserted their cave yet, because they've left a half-eaten squirrel wrapped inside a sheet of plastic, sitting inside a metal pot. That plastic and bowl must have been given to them by sponsors, I think rather jealously. Looking around again, I see that the squirrel's been skinned and obviously cooked in a fire. There's a pile of sticks in the middle of the cave, and I wonder if that was their fire. I don't know how wise it is to light a fire inside a cave, because of the smoke, but they must have done it at the right time, so no one saw the smoke, including me.
Not wasting another second, I head towards the waterfall at the back of the cave. I tilt my head under it and let the cold water stream over my face. I let the cool liquid fall into my mouth, and I swallow it gratefully. I drink until my body can't hold any more water, and I grab the metallic bottle from my pack and fill it up with water.
I wipe my lips and the rest of my face with my green jacket sleeve and head over to the cold pile of sticks. There's another pile of sticks next to it, and I grab some of them and add them to the fire so when I light it, the rabbit will cook better. Like I decided yesterday, I want to cut up the burdock root and add it to a stew with the rabbit, and I look around to see what I can cook the food in. I see the squirrel sitting in a metal bowl, and waste no more time as I stuff the squirrel into my bag, already covered in plastic. I take the bowl and fill it up with a reasonable amount of water. I set it down on the stone ground and grab a match from my pack. Crouching over the fire, I light the match and carefully set the sticks ablaze, using a handful of leaves, too. I don't know how safe it is, but I still place the metal bowl over the flames and leave it to boil, which seems to do the trick. In the meantime, I chop up the burdock root into thin, fine slices with one of my daggers, and do the same with the rabbit. I could add Alby and Harriet's squirrel, too, but it's already cooked, and besides, I want to eat that separately. I throw the burdock and rabbit haphazardly into the bowl and stir it with the cleanest stick I can find. After a minute or so, I smell the mixture. It smells almost bland, and I decide that it could use something else. Not that taste is a priority in the Games, but, well, if I can find anything else, I may as well use it in this stew. Standing up, I add a few more sticks to the flames to keep it going longer. I look around at the cave to see if Alby and Harriet have any roots or leaves, but no luck. I don't have anything else except a few handfuls of dried fruit and nuts, and I don't fancy putting that in a rabbit stew. Instead, I stand up and brush myself off. Stepping outside cautiously, I quickly find another patch of mint. Grinning, I put a leaf in my mouth. I might make mint with hot water tomorrow if Alby and Harriet don't find me today. I collect as much as I can carry and shove it into my jacket pocket. I also find a patch of wild fennel, and shove that in a different pocket. Figuring that's as much as I can carry, I head back inside Alby and Harriet's cave. I put most of the fennel and mint into the stew and begin to stir it again.
YOU ARE READING
The Tributes of Twelve | Newt x Reader
Fanfiction(y/n) (y/l/n). A girl from the Seam in District Twelve. She lives under the control of the Capitol with her father and younger brother Chuck. She has avoided the Hunger Games her entire life and has instead focused on putting food on her family's ta...
