When The Canary Sings

Cannons of the Canary

First Person: Becca Blue

I managed to sleep through the rest of day 7 and all of day 8 until sunset, somehow. In all my dreams, I saw Chip. Sometimes they were nice dreams, where he and I were running into the ocean together, or we were sitting in a meadow watching a rainbow.

But most of the time I saw him in all his gore. His blood and his guts, his blood soaked hair, and his bones crunching and cracking every time I touched him.

"Your fault." He would say over and over again until I jolted awake.

As I slept uncomfortably throughout day eight, two cannons had boomed over the arena.

"Career on Career violence." I snickered to myself, but then I realized that this had meant I had made it to the final three.

A thirteen year old girl from District 12, in the final three? The runt girl? The weakest kid from the weakest district? How did that happen?

I wondered who was left. Something deep inside of me prayed it was either of the district one kids, for I dreamed of killing both of them after Chip. I would bathe in their blood if it meant avenging Chip.

But, I decided not to leave my position, maybe I could just simply out-last whoever it was.

That, however, was not going to happen, because not even two hours later, I was pulled out of my sleep once again by a loud announcement. Seneca Crane's voice echoed over the arena.

"Attention Tributes," He called. "Congratulations on making it this far. You have proven your strength." Seneca continued.

"Starting on my mark, all remaining tributes have five minutes to reach the cornucopia." He said, and I immediately jolted up. I had enough energy from all my sleeping. I ran out of the door of the boutique before the countdown even started, knowing I was near the edge of the arena.

"Tributes," Seneca announced, "your time starts now."

On his mark, a clock appeared in the sky, and I started to bold down the streets. I hopped over debris, and cut in between alleyways.

As I was running, I heard a strange noise coming from behind me. I swiveled around, only to be met with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

Mutts.

They were snakes. Slithering in an army of tens of thousands, all moving towards the cornucopia. Of course they were using mutts to push us near each other. The snakes were still about twenty feet behind me, but that was enough for me to pick up my pace and continue my running, ignoring their hissing.

There was another tribute, running behind me. I couldn't pick out who it was, but it didn't matter as I watched him trip over a stray piece of debris and fall. He tried to crawl away, but the snakes coiled up his legs, sinking their teeth into every inch of flesh. They coiled and wrapped around his body until he wasn't even there anymore

I couldn't move, and I could hear Haymitch yelling at me to run.

I was pulled from my horrified trance as I felt a piercing sting in my leg. I looked down to see a singular snake coiled up my leg. Immediately, I reached down and grabbed it by it's head. It hissed at me, and I hissed back, looking into its black eyes.

For a moment, it looked like the mutt had been put in a trance, surprised by me hissing back. So I squeezed my hand around its head and tossed it back into the slithering mass of snakes closing in on me.

The venom was trippy, the dull and gray world immediately turned into a slew of bright colors and flashing lights. Faces of friends I once knew surrounded me, screaming at me, telling me to run. I picked up and ran, ignoring the stinging in my leg, ignoring the world that was spinning, ignoring how the sky was brown, and the streets were blue.