GAMES
"Do you know what the reason for these games even is?"
"Of course I do. To punish us for the Dark Days. The war."
"Exactly. And do you know what that means?"
"What?"
"No one wins when it comes to the Games. Twenty-three tributes lose their liv...
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They darted after them, hooting and hollering. Shay heard them each trying to claim her and Katniss, calling dibs on who would get to kill them.
Branches whipped past the blonde's face and she propelled herself forward although her muscles still ached. There was no way that she and Katniss were going to be able to outrun them. Not in their current state. Just as the thought crossed her mind, the edge of a branch skimmed the healing cut on her brow, ripping the forming scab off. Blood began to drip into her vision once again. Great, Shay thought. Just what I needed.
Katniss seemed to realize what Shay had; that they were dead if they could not create much-needed distance between themselves and the Careers. The dark-haired girl halted at the base of a large tree to their left and quickly began her climb. Shay waited nervously at the bottom until the District 12 tribute was far enough up that she could start the climb too. Shay hesitantly followed Katniss's example, careful not to miss a hold. She was not as proficient at climbing trees as Katniss obviously was and this tree was much more difficult to climb than the one they had slept in. Shay could not afford to slip up.
Katniss was relatively far up the tree while Shay was only about halfway up when the Careers reached the base. Katniss situated herself on a branch that was not too much farther up the trunk from Shay. I can do this, Shay coached herself.
She heard a commotion behind her as Cato attempted to climb the tree, his sword still clenched in his hand. He's never going to make it, the blonde tried to convince herself as he closed the distance between them. He making it harder on himself by still holding his sword. Not to mention, he was too heavy and generally not built for the activity. Shay's suspicions were confirmed when his hand slipped from a knot on the tree and he body crashed to the ground. Shay rolled her eyes, not bothering to look down at him, and continued climbing. What was that saying? The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Looking up, Shay watched as Katniss cast a sardonic smile down at her. No, not at her, at the Careers. Shay pushed herself to climb faster, knowing that Death was standing just below her if she failed.
"How's everything with you?" Katniss called down to them, distracting them while Shay continued up the tree. The branch below Katniss was too low for Shay's comfort, and it would be awkward and unsafe for her to try to share a branch with her ally so she was forced to go up to the next highest. Luckily, she managed to do so, finding her own holds as she passed Katniss's branch.
Straddling her branch, Shay looked down to see the predatory smiles of the five Careers below her while Peeta stood warily off to the side. Cato locked eyes with her, recovering from his fall. His 'smile' was more of a snarl now, the fall having damaged his ego a bit. His gaze never left hers as he replied to Katniss's mocking question, "Well enough. Yourselves?"
