Johanna Mason

|9| burning

Today has been brutal. It's about mid morning and the heat has doubled. No, tripled. It surrounds me and creeps over all my body, every pore. I sweat continuously but don't drink too much. I have to be proportional, so I don't run out of supplies.
I can only wonder what the Careers think of this heat. Or maybe they aren't even getting it, it could be just the section I'm in. Maybe they are freezing cold, or drenched in rain. No that can't be. I would hear the rain, and if they were freezing cold, some of that air would travel this direction. Right? I mean, the brainless gamemakers can't do something that perfect.
It's merely impossible, and with with temperatures this high, the cold and hot air would defiantly create lots of fog.

Before I can keep thinking, I hear something. A sound that fills me with relief.
Booooom
A cannon! Thank goodness!
I kinda want to shout at the gamemakers, and tell them that they can turn off the heat now, but that would be completely useless. All I would be doing is blowing my hiding spot, and breaking my act. Especially since there must be a person killing. Well unless they died of a natural cause.
But I'm so thankful! Now this miserable climate can end.

Curious to see where the hover craft comes to pick up the dead body, I venture up my tree. It's hard because my hands are so slippery with sweat.
When I reach the top I glare towards the lake. Nothing.
I wait for a while but the hover doesn't arrive. Maybe someone is near the body, and the hovercraft can't come yet. I notice how the view is wavy. Heat waves blur my vision, giving the part of the arena I can see, an eerie tint.

Then I hear another sound. First I think it's the hovercraft.
Rumble
I frantically search the air, but there isn't anything. Plus I know that wasn't a Hovercraft. They're silent, it's.... Something else.
Boom rumble boom
Still no hovercraft.

I turn around looking the other way. A new sensation of heat brushes me in the face. My hands almost slipping off the branch I'm holding onto because of the sweat.
But what I see the other direction, almost makes me fall off the tree completely. How could I of not seem this? The Boom I heard, wasn't a cannon at all. The rumbles I heard, weren't anything I expected.

I stare, not afraid, not on the verge of crying, but mad. Angry at the gamemakers for this. It all is making sense. The blinding warmth, the sounds. It all fits perfectly. How could I not of put this together?

What I see.... is the sky. It's blotched with black and gray smoke. Smeared together by the heat waves. And below it all. Is the volcano. Erupting. Smoldering lava already oozing over the top. Slowly running down the side. But it won't be that leisure for long. Within a few minuets I have a feeling that volcano will blow up full force.
I mean, this is our punishment for not killing. And when have we known a punishment to be calm, and safe.

How clueless can I be? How could I have not put together that the heat is the volcano preparing for eruption. After all I'm so near to it, I should of spotted it. I should have seen the sky when the deaths flashed across the dome. But.. I didn't?
As frustrated as I am at myself and the Capitol, I decide that I have to get out of here. This volcano isn't going to play nice. The sole purpose for its placement is to make tributes die. So I have to get as far away as possible if I want to win.

Without waiting another second baffled by the erupting volcano, I carefully step down to my sleeping branch and stuff my blanket in the backpack. Then I tuck my axe, for the first time, beside the blanket so I don't have to hold it. As slick as my hands are, I wouldn't be surprised if I dropped it. Even if I held on tightly.

As I jump down, and pull the backpack on my back, I take one quick look at the volcano again.
The lava is slipping down faster. It's almost to the ground. That can't be real lava. It just can't be.

Then, I turn around to run away as far as possible.
Rumble
The ground shakes and I hear a crack behind me. I start to run.
Rumble
It gets more violent and my feet fumble at every shake of the ground.
Then something makes me fall face first, tripping.
Boooom
I look back as I get to my feet. Lava shoots from the top of the volcano. It sprays all over the trees around it. One tree catches on fire.

Another burst erupts and makes the lava on the side, reach the ground. And at the sound of it. It's moving fast.

I run quickly, and sweat drips from my forehand and down my arms. I almost feel like I could fall over. The heat isn't letting up.

More lava shoots out the top. It runs faster down the side, adding onto the extra on the ground. Pushing its self along. Catching fire to anything it rolls over. And I notice the tree on fire, caught another aflame. Then I see more trees ablaze. Probably because the lave is at the bottom of their trunks already. It scares me a little. At how much ground that lava is making, so fast.
Booom
More lava. I don't stop sprinting. Not caring to look back. I just have to get out of range.
•
When I can't take the dryness in my throat any longer. I stop as fast as I can and pull the canteen from my backpack.
As I unscrew the cap, I take a glance back. I'm so surprised at what I see, I have to close and open my eyes, to make sure the heat isn't playing tricks.
I can literally see the lava. It's sliding across the ground as fast as I saw it going down the side of the volcano. It's a long ways away, but it's frightening at how dangerously close it is.
A boom sounds, breaking me from my trance. And it's followed by another spurt of lava. The ground shakes as I finish drinking, and throw my backpack on my back. Now running even faster if that is possible. This lava is defiantly man-made. Natural lava is nothing like this. It doesn't move nearly as fast.
•
(7 minuets later)
As I run and run, the burning substance doesn't let up. I can still see it. It's probably closer if anything. But my body is extremely over heated and over worked. My muscles are sore and my legs burn with every step. My throat scratchy and dry, and my eyes are blurry and feel as if they dried up. I sweat everywhere and my feet slip within my boots.

Soon my strength is gone. Chest burning, and my heart pounding out of it, I stumble to regain my speed but when I look back to search for the lava, I fall over, Heaving for air. My ears ring, and more sweat falls to my eyes, burning as bad as my muscles. It's impossible to know if any cannons fired, or to know where I am. But I know that my cannon will signal soon.
I can't stand up, everything I have is gone. The only thought in my mind is my dad. His bearded face, with his flannel, plaid shirt. The jeans he wore almost everyday, because we couldn't afford him another pair. But somehow we managed to pay for the gravestones that belong to my sister and mother.

As the lava nears, I close my eyes, not trying to get up because I know I can't.
The ringing steadies to a low hum, and when the heat overwhelms me so bad, I sense my breaths fading in and out. I try to open my eyes to grasp one last look at the nature and to see how close the lava is, but I can't. The blackness stays in front of me, so I give up. I let the sweat drench me. My clothes are already covered in the stuff anyways.

Right before I feel the heat of the lava getting so close I know I'm going to die, I let a tear come out of hiding from my eye. I think of my family. Of the happy times. And of my dad. Who will be..... Alone now. His wife Jennelle, his oldest daughter Jen, and 14 year old daughter Johanna, all... Dead.

I rest. Pools of sweat filling everywhere on me.
Taking one last scorching inhale of breath, I croak out something I never thought would ever come out of my mouth,
"I love y-you..........Dad"
Then, blacking out, another tear slips from my eye. Falling limp. Wishing I could say one last goodbye in person, to the only one I have left to love.