The Seed is Strong (Hunger Games Fanfic)

Truce

With food and water easily accessible, Ela found the next few days a lot more pleasant.
Her and Tomas had been sent a packet of vitamins, to keep them both healthy. Although Ela suspected that they were more for her benefit as she was the pregnant one.
The only downside was that the other tributes were doing similarly well, as by day 6 there were still 10 tributes left in the games.
Because of this, Ela was waiting for the game makers to throw something horrible at them all, to lower the numbers.

This event occurred when Ela and Tomas were collecting water one evening, and they suddenly heard someone scream.
Moments later they heard a gong sound, indicating that the screamer was dead.
"Run" instructed Tomas.
Ela didn't need to be told twice.
She screwed up the lid on her water bottle, even though it was only half empty, and began to run back towards their cave as fast as she could.
"Hurry" shouted Tomas.
"I am" Ela snapped back.
Even though they couldn't yet see the threat, they weren't taking any chances.

They had nearly reached the start of the mountains when they looked behind them and saw what they were facing.
A swarm of tiny flying insects, smaller than wasps were swarming around the area, and they didn't look friendly.
Ela knew that if they entered their cave, the bugs were likely to follow them, and they would be cornered.
"We need someone to hide, where we can cover ourselves" announced Ela.
"I have an idea. Follow me" ordered Tomas as he began to lead the way to the left of the mountains, on a path Ela had never been on.

Eventually Tomas stopped at a small hole in the ground, and pointed to it.
"You can't be serious" said Ela.
"Look, we don't have time to argue. Just get down there" replied Tomas, as the swarm began getting closer.
"How do you know for sure that there is no one else down there?"
"I don't"
"Great. But you know that there is a way out?"
"Yes, now get down there".
Ela had no choice but to comply, so she bent down to the ground before jumping into the hole, with Tomas close behind her.

Once inside, Tomas pulled a stone over the entrance, stopping the bugs from getting in.
This however put them in complete darkness, so Tomas removed the torch from his belt, and switched it on.
The hole was just tall enough for Tomas to stand in, and it was only a few feet wide, making Ela feel very claustrophobic.
Unfortunately they soon realised that they were not alone in the hole.
Tomas quickly withdrew his sword, and stepped in front of Ela protectively.
Ela looked closely at the tribute in front of them, trying to work out who they were and where they were from.

The tribute was a young boy, several years below Ela, who she remembered was from district 11.
He was small, and held a tiny pen knife in his hand, so Ela knew that Tomas could dispatch him easily.
She wondered how he had survived so long, but then she remembered that the other tribute from his district had died the night before, so he hadn't been on his own very long.
Ela could see the fear in his eyes, and she didn't want to watch him die because of her.
She knew that only one person could win the games, but since there were still several people left, she didn't think it would be too bad to let the boy go.

"How about a truce until those bugs have gone?" Suggested Ela.
She expected that there was a camera somewhere in that cave, and that the game makers were hoping they'd kill each other. But she wanted to rise above that.
"You're not going to kill me?" Whimpered the boy.
"As long as you don't try to kill us in return" replied Ela.
The boy nodded his head and put his pen knife away in his pocket.
"You can't be serious. We can't trust him" hissed Tomas.
"It's only for a short while, until the bugs have gone" whispered Ela.
"We can't risk making an alliance with him"
"We're not. We are just agreeing not to kill each other, until it's safe to go back outside again".

Ela turned back to face the boy, "I'm Ela. What's your name?".
"Josh" he answered quietly.
"Well Josh, we promise not to hurt you while we are all down here. But once we're out there, that partnership ends O.K" replied Ela.
"I understand" mumbled Josh.
"This is a bad idea" muttered Tomas as he put away his sword.
"If you want to murder an unarmed boy, who currently poses you no threat, then by my guest" hissed Ela.
"On your head be it" replied Tomas as he dropped to the ground and crossed his legs, sighing loudly.

"I don't suppose you know what those things are?" Questioned Ela curiously.
Josh shook his head, before rolling up one of his sleeves, revealing his red swollen arm.
"I don't know what they are, but a couple stung me, and did this to my arm" he revealed.
"That looks bad. Does it hurt a lot?" Asked Ela.
"Yes. Like really bad sun burn combined with being bitten by a wild dog".

Ela approached the boy and unscrewed the lid of her bottle.
"Ela" warned Tomas, who didn't want her getting too close to the other tribute.
Ela ignored him, and poured some water onto Josh's arm.
He winced loudly, until Ela stopped.
"I'm sorry, that's the best I can do" admitted Ela.
"That's O.K... Thank you" replied Josh.
"You're welcome".

As the hours passed, Ela and Josh talked, while Tomas sat in silence.
Ela found it interesting to learn about someones life in another district, particularly one that sounded a lot worse than her own.
District 11 certainly sounded like a much scarier place to live than her own district.
Eventually the buzzing outside stopped, and Tomas removed the stone to have a look around.
"It looks alright to me" he commented.
"Good. Now let's get out of this stinky cave" replied Ela.
Not wanting to leave her alone with Josh whom he didn't trust, Tomas pushed Ela out of the hole first, before climbing out by himself, and refusing to help Josh up.
Josh it turned out didn't need any help, as he was able to climb out easily by himself, making Ela think that he had hidden in that hole before.

"This is where the truce ends" Tomas said firmly.
Josh nodded his head, "I understand. Good luck".
"You too" replied Ela.
Josh then darted off towards the trees, quicker than Ela would've managed.
"It would have been easier if we had just killed him. Because now if we meet him again, it's going to be a lot harder to finish him off" admitted Tomas, as him and Ela began making their way back to their cave.
"I know. But it just didn't feel right to kill him like that. Hopefully someone else will finish him off so that we don't have to" sighed Ela.
"I hope you're right" mumbled Tomas.