Escape the Arena (100th Hunger Games)

Chapter Eleven: Day One

(Ash Coralby (District Twelve)'s P.O.V)

I'm hunting already. For food and for Nick Aberth. I need to kill. If it's food, if it's Nick, I don't mind. Even thought my main weapon is my fists, I managed to pick up a pack and it had axes and a blowgun in it. Lucky me, I have something to hunt with, and possibly use from a long distance.

This forest is oddly humid, but the rest of the arena isn't that cold either. The ground is littered with old, brown leaves which crunch as soon as you step in them. Hence, I'm moving from tree to tree, as best as I can.

I'm as silent as a fox. I don't need the careers finding me this early on. Or at all. Suddenly, I hear the crunching of leaves in the distance. Someone's walking in my direction. After a few moments of intent listening while I conceal myself the best I can in the tree, I notice that it's the sound of one set of footprint, not multiple. It must be a solo tribute, or possibly some messed up version of a mutt.

Plugga Frey comes into view, confirming my suspicions that it was a solo tribute. He has a backpack on him, but his hands are empty. He isn't armed.

I wait for him to get as close as possible, and he ends up directly under the tree I'm in. Now's my chance, I leap off the branch and land right on top of Plugga. He yelps in fear.

In no time at all, I'm on top of Plugga, the blade of my axe lining against his throat, causing a very small amount of blood to come out. I need to be strategic about this.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now" I growl at Plugga. Plugga stops frantically trying to fight me, and looks me directly in the eye."
"Why would I help you?" Plugga scowled.
"Are you thick?" I retort. "I can literally decapitate you any second right now"
Plugga looks panicked. "Um, I have water!" he pipes up. I shake my head. That's not good enough. I could just kill him and take the water off his dead body.
Plugga is silent, panicking, stressed, I don't care. I'm about to give up and decapitate him when the boy's eyes suddenly widen. "I can tell you where Nick is with Isaac"

I frown. "How do you know where they are?"
"I'm part of their alliance," Plugga explains. "I went out on the hunt for food."
I consider it. I'd rather have Nick on my kill list than Plugga. "Okay, tell me now and I may let you live."

Plugga lifts a finger, and points in the direction he came from. "Our camp is that way. When you get near a stream, we're near a rock behind it."
I grin and get off Plugga. I won't even need to take his water if they've located a stream. "Cheers," I smile at him. "Consider your life spared."

I hear Plugga breathe a sigh of relief as I run off in the direction of the camp.

(Plugga Frey (District Three)'s P.O.V)

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. How did I manage that? How did I end up alive still? I need to be more careful.

I watch Ash run off in pursuit of Nick, and then I turn and continue along the path I was going. I can't believe Ash believed me when I told him our camp was that way. Making up the stream and the rock did sorta solidify the lie, I guess. He'll be out of our hair for a while as he drives himself crazy looking for a non-existent stream.

I get back to the camp a few minutes later. Nick and Isaac smile at me. "Any food?" Nick asks.
"No," I respond. "But we need to get out of here now. I just ran into Ash and I'm lucky I'm still alive. He only spared me because I told him that Nick was in the other direction. But as soon as he discovers I lied, he'll be back as fast as he can be."

Nick looks terrified. I think he severely regrets not letting him into the alliance, especially since our strongest asset – Kye, is missing.

We get to walking, and soon we actually do come across a stream, which I find ironic. We decide to cross the stream and set up camp around five hundred metres away from it.
"Where do you guys reckon Kye is?" I ask.
"I hate to say it, but I think he's dead." Nick says solemnly. "He didn't meet us behind Isaac's pedestal like we planned, and there is a quarter of all tributes dead."
"I'm not a hundred percent sure he's dead though," Isaac muses. "He was one of the strongest out of the tributes. He scored a nine, remember?"
"Well," Nick declares. "We'll find out tonight"