The 70th Hunger Games: A Little Love

Chapter Eight

Dear Diary,

I write to you tied to the branch of a tree in the games. Percy sleeps underneath me, I hear his snores already despite the fact that we just decided to go to bed. I had a very trying first day in the games, here's how it went:

After the timer finished, I dashed for the woods behind me without looking at the cornucopia once. I knew it was going to be crazy, with so many people dying. I just didn't think I could handle that. All that blood. All that death. The further I could get from it all, the better.

I ran for the bushes, diving in and finding myself instantly pricked with thorns. I let out a small yelp of pain, and then I look back at the bush. Although it looked green from my spot on the pedestal, up close, it looked almost a dirty brown, with thorns sticking out in every direction.

Deciding I would worry about those cuts later, as they couldn't be deeper than a small scratch you get from a kitten, I keep running, making my way for that big tree. If only I could make my way towards the tree, towards Percy, I would be okay.

I need to protect him for as long as I can.

I have to.

After what feels like three hours of running, I finally make it to the tree. Taking a moment to pause, I look around me at the scenery. I don't see much around me as the arena is mostly forrest, but I see a few more of those bushes with plenty of thorns. I see trees that have low dangling red fruits from them as well. Unsure of if the fruits are poison are not, I take a few of them off the branches and put them in my pockets for later, if I got hungry.

I hear leaves crunching and heavy panting as someone approaches. Shoot. I don't know what to do.

Looking for a low branch on the tree, I hoist myself up, trying to get as high up in the tree as I could. The higher I get, the further I will be from their sight, and the more likely I will be to be covered by the leaves.

"Annie?" a tired voice cries out. I look down below me, stopping my frantic climbing up the tree.

"Percy!" I smile. Who thought I was going to smile during The Hunger Games? "Hold on, I'm coming down," I announce as I climb down the branches, one of them cracking—but thankfully, not breaking—under my weight. That's good to know that someone too big wouldn't be able to follow us up the tree.

As I come down to face Percy, I realize that he has blood coming from his left shoulder. "Percy! What happened?" I ask with concerns my fingers going over the cut.

"When I was running away from the cornocopia, one of the careers threw a knife at me. It scratched my shoulder, but it flew past me and hit someone else." He offers a small backpack and a dagger that was covered in blood.

"I took these from her body while the tribute was searching for another knife, and I was able to run away before he got me," Percy continues. I think for a second, and I really hope that the tribute was not Cicero or Sparkle, who were both so kind to me.

"Well okay, let's see what in the backpack, then let's see if there's any water nearby to heal that cut. I got a few small cuts as well, because I jumped full force into a thorn bush," I explain, laughing softly and trying to lighten the mood a bit.

As we're examining the contents of the bag; an empty canteen with a purifier to clean water, a box of matches, an extra thick jacket, a large yard of rope, and a small bag filled with crackers and dried meat, the cannons go off.

Ten cannons.

Ten tributes died during the bloodbath.

I guess tonight, that's when they project the images of the dead, we'll see who was killed in the bloodbath. I shake my head, trying to get that image out of my head. I can't believe ten people are already dead.