District 12's First Victor

CHAPTER 12 - FIRE

I sit up quickly and gather my crutches. I grab some food and water off the table in the middle which I quickly eat and drink before I rush out the door. On the way out, I trip over Thorne, who is still sleeping. He jumps up, surprised.

"What's wrong?" He asks, looking concerned. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the arena," I reply as I continue out the door. "Fire."

He nods in understanding and runs alongside me. "I'm leaving this afternoon," he says. "If you need supplies, come get some from the hut."

"Thanks," I say and smile.

He gives me a quick hug and I dive into the water.

When I get to the other side, everything is black. Thankfully, I left my crutches right next to the lake so they didn’t get burnt. I hobble up to my cave to find it completely burnt away, except for the rock, of course. I pull out all my stuff and find it relatively unscathed except the game which appears to be cooked. It must have been really hot in the fire! I can’t eat it anymore, though, because it still has the fur and organs inside so I dig a hole a few meters away from the cave and bury the ruined meat. Hopefully and assuming the fire didn’t ruin it I can get some more game from the snare line. If not, I'll just use the part which is outside the arena.

I am just wondering what happened while I was away when I hear a small voice behind me.

"Where have you been?"

It's Jay.

"I was worried about you in the fire because of your leg."

"erm…" I say. I don't exactly know what to tell her. I can't tell her that I was outside the arena!

"And don't lie. I saw your crutches next to the lake." she says.

I had no idea she could be so feisty!

"Okay, okay." I say, giving in. "I don't exactly know how to put it…"

Thankfully she picks up on my hesitation and motions to go into the cave.

"You're not going to let me lie to you, are you…" I say reluctantly and she shakes her head. "Fine," I sigh and explain to her how for the past two days, I have snuck out to see Thorne because this is District 12's woods. The whole time she just looks at me, shocked and doesn’t really react, even at the most shocking parts.

"So who died?" I ask quietly after a moment of silence.

"The boys from 5 and 7 but I really shouldn't tell you, seeing as you would know if you weren't outside the arena with your boyfriend," she says, harshly, "Cheater."

I must admit, she has a point.

"Don't expect any help from me because you won't get it," she warns before leaving.

As soon as she's gone, I lean against the cave wall. I shouldn't have told her. Now I have a strong enemy who I still don't want to kill. I don't really want to go outside incase I have to face Jay again but I decide that I should check the snare line for more food and incase it has been burnt in the fire. I pack up all my stuff and leave the cave. I won't be coming back since everything has been burnt and the temptation to leave the arena again will be too great. I really need to stop cheating. It's not fair and it will come back to bite me if I win anyway.

Unfortunately, the snare line was badly damaged by the fire. A lot of the wires were melted and all of the nets were burnt through. If I get out of here alive I’ll have to tell Thorne and my dad so we can come fix it. The further from the lake I get, the better the woods fared. After about a kilometer, the vegetation becomes lush and green again. By the time I reach the forcefield, I have only collected 1 rabbit but that is enough to feed me for at least 2 days. All the other animals must be hiding after the fire.

It is getting dark so I decide to make camp. I'll light a fire at dusk to conceal the smoke. Normally I wouldn’t bother waiting but I don't know where the other tributes are so I need to be careful. I see a big bush up ahead so I walk over, dump my stuff and set to work clearing a space underneath it for me to sleep in. Behind me, I have a fire going, cooking my rabbit,. Tomorrow I'll have to find water because my bottle is getting empty. I really should have filled it at the lake before I left. As soon as I finish my shelter, I put out the fire and have a rabbit leg. I also eat some of the dried fruit that Thorne sent me in the parachute. I haven't had any other gifts but then again, I haven't needed them either.

As soon as it is completely dark, a single cannon goes off and the girl from 4's face appears in the sky. I wonder how she died. In training, she appeared to be the strongest of the careers. I suppose the others were smarter than her so she must have been tricked.

I am just about to fall asleep when trumpets blare, jolting me awake again.

"Attention tributes," A voice rings out all around the arena.

"Congratulations  on getting to the top 7. I would like to announce a feast tomorrow at the cornucopia. It will start at midday. Hope to see you there!"

A feast. It would probably mean food but there wasn't a feast in last year's games so it might be something a lot more interesting. I think I'll go see what happens. Even if it is just food, it would be helpful.

I settle down again and go to sleep. I'll need to be well rested if I want to go to the feast tomorrow. After all, the other tributes will be there and at least 1 fight is guaranteed.