The 70th Hunger Games: A Little Love

Chapter Nine

Dear Diary,

I woke up on the second morning to a sore back and the tree branch I had previously tied over me to keep me warm soaked in sweat. Feeling my forehead, I realized I was sweating a lot. It had gotten decently warmer than it was yesterday when we entered the games.

Being careful to be quiet, in case anyone was nearby, I looked down at Percy. He was awake, and combing his fingers rythmically through his hair. It makes me wonder how long he had been sitting like that, waiting for me to wake up. "Hey Percy," I half whisper, half shout, so that he will hear me.

"Yeah?" I hear a tired voice, and Percy's dark eyes look up at me sheepishly. I guess he hadn't seen, or heard, me moving around at all. "Let's get going, see what else we can find today," Percy nods, and begins to untie himself. While I do the same, I hear my stomach growl.

I guess it's much later than whenever I wake up for school and have breakfast back home.

"Are you hungry?" Percy asks, looking up at me from his branch. I nod, biting my lip. Rubbing my arm anxiously and reopening the rash, I think: what are we going to eat? We had the rest of the shadermellons before bed last night, and we could always find more, but I wasn't sure when we would have time to sleep again.

"Here, why don't we have some meat and crackers," Percy suggests, hearing my stomach growl. I make a face. I really, really don't want to eat meat—especially if I don't absolutely have to. Personal preference aside, I don't think my stomach would be able to handle it.

"I'll just take some crackers," I decide, untying myself and slowly starting to shimmy my way down the tree. "Let's eat and walk," I suggest, tying up my rope and then handing it over to Percy to put back in the backpack he was holding. Then, I realized that backpack must be pretty heavy with everything in it.

"Do you want me to hold the backpack today, Percy?" I offer, holding out my hand to him. Before he could answer me, a cannon went off, signaling that another tribute had died.

Already?

It was early in the morning and already tributes had murder on their brain. I can't fathom it. I can't imagine ever being able to kill someone, and I truly hope Percy and I are never put in that position.

I look at Percy, fear in my eyes. Who knows where that person was, how close their killer was to us. I take a deep breath, and offer my hands out to take the backpack. Silently, he hands me the backpack and I slip it on over my shoulders. Walking carefully so as to not crack any sticks that may be lying on the ground, we continue in the direction we were walking earlier.

I already feel the effects of dehydration kicking in, my tongue has stopped producing enough saliva for me to swallow, and my throat hurts like I've swallowed a bee. My only hope is that we can find water sooner rather than later.

As we continue on walking, we hear another set of footsteps approaching. I quickly look around the area, my heart racing. This will be our first interaction with another tribute, someone who will more than likely kill us both right here, right now. Unsure of if Percy had even heard the footsteps yet, I grab the sleeve of his tribute uniform and pull him as hard as I can, hoping to get his attention.

Once he's looking at me, I point to the large brown-grey bush, probably covered in thorns once more, and I dive in, completely surrounding myself with the bushes and the thorns. Percy does the same.

Once we're smushed into the painful bush, thorns digging into our sides, we hear the footsteps sound so close, as if they are about to walk into the bush. I hold my breath, thinking that even breathing would be too much noise right now.