𝐅𝐎𝐗𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 [EDITING]

thirteen

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I sat in a tree branch uncomfortably, watching the sky. Just as I had done here every other night. I had found a tree that was fairly close to the careers campsite, which was definitely dangerous, but I could take the risk. Thought the night sky wasn't starry, it had been clouded over. The only thing left in the sky was the moon shining dimly through the clouds. 

Soon enough, the Capitol emblem appeared in the sky, followed by the anthem. The face of the boy from district 3 appeared in the sky. I frowned, he was so innocent. He was just a kid. Just like the rest of us stuck in this living nightmare. There were only eight people left in the arena now. Great. I guess I'm just getting closer to my own death. Hopefully it wasn't too painful.

Soon, I drifted off in my angry thoughts.

-🕸-

I awoke the next morning bright and early. The sun had just started to rise, and the air was cold and crisp and smelled like pine trees and grass. I began to walk off, not really knowing where I would go, but I wanted to get further away from the careers camp before they found out who had raided their camp. I heard a group of footsteps behind me. Shit. It must be the careers.

"Hey! Cato! Look!" I heard Marvel yell. I looked behind me to see that he was pointing to me and slowly running closer.

"It must be that little twerp who stole stuff from us!" Cato yelled. Even though I couldn't see him, I just knew he had a sick smile on his face. I started to sprint, though I could hear them follow me closely.

"Oh, she doesn't know what she's in for..." Clove snickered, her voice getting closer by the second. "I'm gonna make sure she dies real slow!" She screeched with a maniacal laugh. I couldn't hear anything from Glimmer so I was guessing she stayed behind to keep a lookout on the camp.

"She's gonna be an easy kill by the time we tire her out." Cato said between breaths. I knew that even though he was strong, and probably had the most muscle out of all the careers, he didn't have very good stamina; so he'd be the first one to stop chasing me. The next would be Marvel, and then Clove would go out last.

Just as I thought, Cato dropped off from my trail. Much like the time when I had escaped from the tree. To my surprise, Clove stopped shortly after Cato.

I could feel myself slowly running out of breath, and I looked behind me. No one was there, Marvel must have stopped chasing after me due to exhaustion. I kept on running even though my breathing was getting heavy and my legs ached. I was so busy looking behind me for anyone, that I bumped right into someone. I was surely done for now.

The person standing in front of me was Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire, the one from district 12, and of course I couldn't forget: the girl who had gotten the record breaking score of 11 in training. Her cloudy grey eyes were stuck on me, her black hair blew gently in the wind as she stood before me.

I completely froze up, I didn't know what to do. I knew she was good with a bow and arrows, and that exactly what she had slung over her shoulder. Even if I managed to run away, she could take me out at a far distance. The two of us stared at each other for a few moments, and as if we were talking telepathically, we both ran off. Not harming each other.

Finally giving up on running, I sat down in the grass. I took a moment to catch my breath again, and I opened up my bright orange backpack. I realized I hadn't eaten or had drank anything today. I took out my water bottle and the half loaf of bread, I broke off a chunk of bread, splitting it into another half and put one of the halves into my backpack. I took a bite into the bread, it must have been from district 9 which mainly produces grain. The bread was a bit stale, but I could live with it. I washed the dry bread down with half of the water in my water bottle. I needed to find a new water source, I would definitely finish my water soon.

There was still a full day that I had to live through, so I couldn't just decide to sleep here. The sun wasn't even fully up in the sky, but almost fully covered with clouds; it would probably rain today. I was hoping it wouldn't rain tonight, that would be an absolute nightmare.

I got up from my spot on the ground even though my legs still ached, but I guess I could deal with it. I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I was hoping to find a fresh water source. As I walked through the forest, I tried to remember who was still left in the arena with me. I knew that all the careers were still alive, so that meant there were four others. Both tributes from district 11 were alive; Rue and Thresh. And I couldn't forget, Katniss, the girl on fire. And then there was me, and I made the eighth tribute.

I was surprised Rue had made it this far, same with how I was surprised with how I was still alive. I guess being smart really did make a difference in this game. Strength was still important though, and I knew that would be my downfall. Most of the tributes that had won over the years were really muscular, and were around 17 or 18. I thought back to Finnick Odair, the youngest tribute to ever win the hunger games. He was only 14 at the time, and was fairly skinny. Maybe I did have a chance.

I remembered how all the girls in my town used to drool over Finnick Odair, I never really found him all that attractive, maybe it was because I didn't really find men that... appealing. The only guy I had ever had interest in was a boy in my run down high school. His name was Blake, he was what I would call pretty. I used to laugh at myself for calling him that, but I guess it was true. I never really talked to him though, I stuck to my small group of friends.

-🕸-

Before I knew it, the sun was setting. I could barely see it through the thick, dark clouds; they hadn't cleared out yet, and I just knew it was going to rain tonight. I groaned with frustration. I could sleep up in a tree tonight and hopefully that would partly cover me from the rain. Just as I expected, the clouds began to drizzle lightly, and then started to pour down harder. I quickly picked a tree, it was sturdy enough. I climbed it with ease and tried to get comfortable in it. I tied my legs up on the branch, just as I had done ever other time I had done this so I wouldn't fall down in my sleep.

Before I went to sleep, I watched the raining sky, no faces appeared tonight. There were still eight of us left in the arena.