The Hunger Games Second Quarter Quell. North Star

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

30 seconds, It feels like a life time. We must stand on our metal plates for 30 seconds, if you step off before then you will be blown sky high. While everyone else seems to be overcome by the beauty of this place I position myself to run. The Cornucopia is about 30 feet away with all sorts of goods surrounding it, the better the goods the closer they are to the Cornucopia. I set my sights on a navy, medium sized pack and a knife. Then suddenly 30 seconds are up, I speed towards the Cornucopia and grab the pack. I glance back at the others who all seem to be awaking from a dream, I turn back to grab the knife as I see the girl from district One heading for me. Then I turn to the woods and flee. I don’t want to look back and even if I did I don’t have the time, I can already hear the sounds of the bloodbath behind me. I keep running as fast as I can through the trees for about an hour then the sound of the cannons stops me. I listen and count off the sounds, 18. 18 cannons and 18 dead. That leaves 30 of us left. But who? Well I will find out tonight when they project the dead tributes faces into the sky. I slow my pace to a gentle jog as I think about what to do. I need to really think about finding a source of food and water and somewhere to sleep but I decide to continue a little further. Then I remember Maddie and the ‘bubble’ and decide I need to keep heading in this direction, west judging by the sun. There must be an end somewhere.

Over the next three hours I hear four cannons and figure the Careers must have begun hunting. Then I come across a small stream filled with sparkling water and sit down to rest and survey my surroundings. All I can see are trees, bushes covered in fruits, the clear blue sky and a flock of candy pink birds flying high above me. I remove my pack and empty the contents onto the ground. I find a full water bottle, a penknife, and some string, a packet of dried fruit, some bread, an apple, a blanket and some plasters. I repack my bag and take out my knife. It’s a magnificent one with a good strong handle and a long blade that’s serrated near the handle. I am pleased with my haul although it’s still not a great deal to survive on but then there is always the fruit; almost every tree around here seems covered in some kind of edible looking produce. I am just about to harvest some pears from nearby tree when I stop dead. I have heard something; footfall and nearby too. I stay still and silent, my knife firmly in my grasp. I am concealed slightly by a tree but it wouldn’t take them long to spot me. I peer slowly round my tree and look at the new arrival, it’s a girl of about fourteen but I can’t place a name or a district. She is leaning against an opposite tree eating a pear. She doesn’t seem to have any weapons and if I need to I’m sure I could take her out, but for now I sit still and watch. Suddenly without warning she begins to cough and splutter, I see a shining red substance around her mouth and covering her hands, then she falls to the floor and a couple of seconds later a cannon fires. What happened? I don’t understand it, but then I notice the half eaten pear still in her hand and realise; it’s poisoned. I look up into the branches of the tree at the fruits and back way, maybe harvesting them wasn’t such a great idea. I look back at the girl. ‘Thanks’ I think for without meaning to this girl just saved my life.

As darkness falls I settle down amongst some small bushes and pull the blanket over me and slowly nibble on a small chunk of bread. Then I hear the anthem and look up through the leaves at the capitol seal shinning in the sky, and then it begins to show the faces of the dead. It starts with district Three meaning all from One and Two survived.  All but one boy from Three are dead, and then it shows Patricke, one of the boys from Four. That’s a bit of a surprise, the Careers normally all make it past day one but then I guess this is a Quarter Quell and the normal isn’t the norm. Then a there is a boy and a girl from Five, all from Six and Seven. I recognise one of the girls from Seven as the girl with the pear. Then the boys from Eight. ‘So that little girl, Scarlett, she made it.’ Then all from Nine and Ten and one boy from Eleven. Then the seal reapers and then the sky goes black. ‘Maddie made it.’ I am both surprised and pleased. Lucas must be totally bewildered as to how a small mad girl could last the first day. Maysilee is still here too, I’m glad, we are friends, I think, as close to friends as you can be in our situation anyway. I lie there, trying to work out who is left. There are eleven Careers, the boy from Three, a girl and a boy from Five, Scarlett and another girl from Eight, The two girls Melody and Iris and the boy Tarek from Eleven and all four of us from Twelve, I think that’s right anyway. I start to feel my eyelids begin to grow heavy and I know I need to rest. I stare up into the star filled sky above me and catch sight of the North Star, still shinning above me even here in this hellish place. Then my eyes close and I allow the darkness to consume me.

I wake to the sound of bird song in the tress around me. The sun is just beginning to make its way over horizon sending golden rays of light over the arena. It’s such a beautiful place; it’s a shame it has to be the sight of something so vile. I remember once learning about how our ancestors fought against slaves and child soldiers and tried to live in a just and fair society. Where did that all go? We are, in a way like the child soldiers and the districts people are the capitols slaves and there is nothing just or fair about our society. I am beginning to wonder if our ancestors really did live like that. How could they if we all ended up like this? How did we get for paradise to this? I also remember something about, an extremely long time ago there were these people who put criminals into arenas and got them to fight each other or wild beasts, it’s like we have gone back in time instead of forward. But then we aren’t criminals, we didn’t do anything wrong and yet we are the ones fighting for our lives. In the past there have been a lot of terrible things, people have done some unforgivable things yet the capitol are sending kids to fight each other to the death for no reason other than they can. Its sick, forget the past crimes what about crimes of today. In the past someone always fought back and won but now no one is resisting so nothing is changing, we have to do something or this is how it will be forever. ‘I’ll do something, even if it kills me I will stand up to them somehow. I will find a way.’ I think, ‘but how? What…’ my thoughts are interrupted by a cannon. I prop myself up on my elbows and look around me. Who was it? Maysilee? Maddie?

I gather my things and set off and begin walking west. Before long I come across a small stream; I keep walking along it for a while until I hear another cannon and a splash. I spin round and see the body, hand dangling into the water, blood around the mouth, poisoned. I decide not to trust any food I find in the arena as I walk over to the dead boy and pull the small pack from his back. But there is no food near him and judging by how quickly the girl died yesterday he wouldn’t have had time to eat it all. Then I spot the hand, the water flowing over it as it dangles in the crystal clear liquid. It’s the water, not just the fruit but the water too. I suddenly feel panic rising in me. I only have one water bottle, that won’t keep me going through these games. There must be another safe source or we will all die of thirst and that won’t be much fun to watch. I move on quickly so the Gamemakers can collect the body and as I wonder along I think about my competitors, have they discovered the poisoned fruits and water? And if so do they have enough supplies for it not to affect them?

I keep going for hours, the sun burning down on me. Eventually I am forced to stop because I’m dehydrating. I sit down on a fallen log and take a few small sips of my precious water supply, remove my jacket and eat almost half of my bread. Then I sit there, breathing heavily. ‘If I want more water or food it will have to come from sponsors.’ I think.  ‘I need them to know what I can do. They need to know I’m a good bet.’ I pull out my knife and throw it at a nearby tree. It hits the centre of the trunk and sticks there, I grin but it’s not exactly brilliant. So I can throw I knife at a tree, as can many of us. I need something to show I am worth their money. I am so busy thinking of a way to show the Capitol what I can do I don’t notice the gold and silver butterfly land on my arm. I glance down and try to simply brush it off, and then something unexpected happens; the butterfly stings me. I feel as if a red hot needle had been injected deep under my skin. I clamp a hand over my mouth to stop myself from yelling. A searing pain spreads out over my right arm, I panic, maybe its poison! Maybe this is it! Maybe I will die here, right now! No! I made a promise! I have to keep going! I grab my pack and stand, my vision immediately blurs and the world begins to spin and rise in alarming ways. The pain in my arm is increasing with every second; it feels as if my veins are on fire. I feel tears cut across my face as I stagger on. I must keep going; I haven’t covered nearly enough ground today. I glance down at my arm, a large red lump has appeared and my arm is swelling. The pain is spreading to my hand, and I begin to feel sick. I am aware of how vulnerable I am stumbling along like this, my right arm not functioning. Suddenly a thought hits me, my right arm, my good arm; I’m right handed so I need my right arm to drive my knife. It’s like the Gamemakers set the butterfly on me to stop me showing off with my knife. Black dots are beginning to invade my vision, I can’t black out here, if I do someone will find me and kill me for sure. I stumble on a stray vine and go tumbling to the ground landing on my right arm. I let out a cry of pain as my weight crushes the injured arm. Then the world begins to swerve and turn around me. The ground rises and falls like waves. Blackness fills the corners of my vision and begins to advance inwards. I slowly and painful drag myself into the shelter of some bushes before I wave the white flag and let the blackness swamp me.