Johanna Mason

|6| hunted

Scruffs bow stays locked on my heart. If I move I'm positive I will die.

"You are Johanna?" Scruff yells up to me as a statement and a question. I slowly drop my axe to show him I'm not going to fight, and stand facing him with my hands up. I try to look afraid and surprisingly it's not hard with a bow pointed at you.
I manage to make eye contact with his brown eyes.

"I-I'm Johanna." I answer forcing tears to swell in my eyes.

"District 12. You know her?"

"I know her." More tears slide down my cheeks at the thought of Shaylor. Scruffs eyes soften. He watches my face, which is probably red from crying. I see pity in his eyes, like he actually cares for my feelings. Slowly, he releases the arrow from the bow and slides it in the sheath on his back. I let out a relived breath that I didn't know I was holding.

I have a chance! He's giving me a chance! I can trick him and get out of here, so I don't get killed.
Reaching down, I wrap my fingers around the handle of my axe again.

"No. Keep the weapon down. Or.... Or I'll shoot." He warns. I lock eyes with him again. The softness lingers there still, so I doubt he will murder me. But following his directions earns more trust.

I let soft cries except my mouth as I let the axe go, and stand back up. He does the same but doesn't let his weapon go.

"Don't run or I'll kill you. Im going to get your axe and bring you to the others" he tells me. Even if he doesn't kill me, I know Tulip will. I have to make a run for it. He seems to feel sad for me, so I might have an advantage.

He nears me, And I decide I have to make my move.

When he gets too close for comfort, I quickly grab my axe, And dart for my right. He pauses confused for a second but catches on quickly.

"Bad move Johanna!" He yells after me. I don't stop. Sprinting at my max speed, I hear Scruff nearing. He is just as fast as me, maybe faster, but I got a head start.
Swoosh
He shoots an arrow right at me. Lucky I reared to my left and it barely misses, lodging into a small tree.
Scruff is gaining on me. Fast. Quickly I turn another left and find a perfect tree.
Swoosh
Another arrow comes. It shoots one inch too near, and
scraps my thigh. Blood immediately oozes through the now ripped hole in my pants. Yelping at the pain I realize Scruff tripped, landing on his back and it looks like it hurt terribly. He stumbles to his feet again and continues after me, some arrows look like they snapped when he fell.
I can't out run him, I have to climb this tree.

There aren't any branches at the bottom which makes it a perfect tree. I takes practice to be able to climb a tree without branches at the bottom. So my pursuers can't climb after me.

I grip the trunk and scoot my way up to the high branches. My leg aches from the pain of climbing, and the wound.
Scruff stands at the bottom situation an arrow in the bow. It takes him a good while.
Swoosh
Another arrow comes. I swing my self on the other side of the truck to avoid it, but again, it hits me. At first I'm not sure wear, but when the blinding pain comes I find its stuck in my forearm. I yelp again but luckily it didn't lodge far. My hurt arm gets pushed backwards at the force the arrow brought, but then gets bumped off when the back of my arm hits the tree. I can't figure out why the arrow didn't stick. It hurt like it did.

Scruff continues to try and get a arrow in his bow, unusually he can't seem to get the arrow to stay pointed at me. Angrily he throws his bow on the ground and climbs after me.

Grabbing the first branch nearest to me, I lift myself on top to sit. Pain erupts in my arm and leg that got hit. Blood seeps through the punctured spots. I tear two strips of cloth off my blanket and wrap my wounds. My thirst is ten times worse now, then it was earlier.
Knowing I don't have any water, I don't even bother to look in my canteen.

"Guys! I got her!" Scruff yells to, obviously, the other careers.

Moaning in pain, I lay my head against the truck of the tree as Scruff tries and tries to climb up.
Why won't he just shoot me?
•
It's not long until I hear the other 3 coming.

"Scruff?" I hear red head yell.

"I.... Am over... Hear!" Scruff shouts back. By the sound of it he is out of breath.

The careers gather around Scruff as he points up to me.

"Johanna. That's Johanna." He tells them. They all peer up at me as I ball my eyes out. But these tears aren't because I'm sad, scared, or anything else. They arnt real. They are just fake. And they are full of Hatred.

"Shoot her down!" Yells redhead pointing at the bow and arrow.

"You try! I lost some arrows when I fell, and the rest have Brocken arrow tips, or just plain snapped! Apparently the game makers
wanted cheap arrows this year!" Scruff complains.

"Climb it!" Redhead suggests like its the cleverest idea ever, little does she know that it's very difficult to do.

"Ok. You climb it. Why do you think I'm out of breath?!" Scruff says and with that he shoves the bow and arrow in redheads hands and pushes her toward the tree.
She just sighs and pulls an arrow in the bow. I watch her and realize what Scruff was talking about. The tip is half gone and the back is completely missing. They are horrible arrows. That's why the arrow in my arm didn't stay.
She fumbles with the string but the arrow won't even point the right way. She gets it in a weird position, and I guess she feels it's ok, so she let's it go.

The arrow twirls and flings through the air. It has no control to which way it goes. Then clatters to the ground after hitting another tree and tumbling off the branches.

Even though I'm crying, I really just want to laugh in her face.

"Told you." Scruff says.

"Whatever" redhead responds throwing the bow on the ground, then angrily stomping on the sheath of arrows. I'm holding in my laughter at how helpless they are. They have no way of getting me.

"Guys! Let's just kill her and get back to the base, it's getting late!" Tulip shouts taking control.
She puts the end of her dagger in her mouth and tries to get a grip on the tree. I move to sit up straiter, but pain bursts in my thigh and arm. Realizing the cloth wrapped around my wounds are both soaked with blood, I get my blanket out again and rip new stripes, this time applying more pressure.

"Help?" Tulip says angrily at Grayson who is being her human foot stool. He stands a little higher up to give her a boost.

"G-g-GOT IT!" Tulip yells as she finally reaches the first branch. She swings up on it, while Grayson happily steps away getting the weight of his back.
Snap
Tulip tumbles off the branch as it breaks off, and she plummets down on top of Grayson again. He groans when his face meets the ground roughly, knocking the air right out of him.

"Agh! Tulip, it's no use." Redhead says kicking the tree in frustration.

"She's useless anyways. She's bound to die off on her own with all the crying she's doing. She can't fight. She can only plead for mercy." Redhead rolls her eyes and picks tulip's dagger up off the ground, where it fell off during her climb.

To show them redhead is right, I sob louder and use my backpack as a shield, blocking there gazes. Little do they know I can fight, and I am of use.

*music plays

The deaths are going to show.

The careers seem to be making a decision to stay or not, but I ignore them. I watch intently as the four faces shoot up in the sky.
One it the district 6 boy that Shaylor killed. Another is Shaylor.