District 12's First Victor

CHAPTER 13 - THE FEAST

I wake up early and gather my things. I'll probably spend the night after the feast near the cornucopia. I eat a bit more of the rabbit before heading to my right. I assume the cornucopia is in that direction seeing as the forcefield is on my left but I'm not entirely sure where we started the games. I should climb a tree to get a good look so I pick a tall tree nearby and climb as high as I can. At the top, I discover I am closer than I thought. It won't take me long at all to get there so I take my time climbing down and setting off again.

As I walk, I keep an eye out for food, water and other tributes. I find a huge blackberry bush which makes me wonder if our strawberry crop Is in the arena. I'll have to check tomorrow. I eat some of the blackberries along the way but put most in my pack for later. It's almost midday by the time I get to the cornucopia so I find a bush and settle down to wait.

At midday, trumpets blare around the arena as they did last night. It must be the feast instructions.

"Attention tributes. For those of you attending today's feast," the voice says, "Please step out of your hiding places and approach the cornucopia. No fighting is allowed at this stage."

I step out from behind the bush and see that both from 11, Jay and the girl from 1 are here. The other two in the pack with district 1 girl aren't here. I don't know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing…

"Step onto the nearest plate and your gift will appear on the table. Feel free to take others' gifts once the fighting starts."

Then, the voice tells us we may begin and all 5 of us run for the table. The girl from 1 sprints in the fastest and tries to grab all the gifts but I throw a knife that pins mine and Jay's to the table.

The pair from 11 and I sprint in at the same time but I ignore them. They will have to fight the girl from 1 to get their gifts back. I am just about to grab both the packs when an arrow whistles past my ear. I freeze up for a moment, remembering the day my leg was hit when I hear a call from above and behind me.

"Hurry up, Jay! While she's confused!"

I turn, knife in hand to see Jay running at me with a small sword. I quickly unpin both the bags and shove hers behind me, under the table.

"So, Anya," she says, "I hear from my new allies that you killed my brother on the first day."

Apparantly Jay is with the tributes from 1 and 2 now. I wonder how long she's been with them for!? I hope only since after the fire. Otherwise, the whole arena may as well my secret.

"Ummmm…" I say. Maybe he's the one I killed on the first day.

"I'm going to take that as a yes and kill you now - for killing my brother and for cheating!"

Jay grins and runs at me with her sword. At the last minute, I leap aside and she crashes into the table. I stab her sword arm with my knife as she turns to run again and she screams out in pain.

I am just about to run away when I notice the girl from 11 dead a little way away and the boy from 11 running with his gift. The girl from the tree runs after him and the pair from district 1 completely ignore Jay and I as they go through their pack. I sprint as fast as I can, which is more like hopping because of my stupid leg, over to the dead girl and grab her gift before heading back to my bush. The other tributes will know by now that this is where I was hiding so I grab my supplies and head back to last nights camp.

When I wake up, I am lying under the same bush as last night. I don't remember getting here but I guess I must have been really tired after the feast. I remember that yesterday, I decided to go see if our strawberry patch is in the arena since that would be a great place to stay. It has a creek nearby too which is good seeing as I need to fill up my water bottle. I eat the leftover blackberries for breakfast before heading along the snare line back to the lake. It occurs to me while I am walking that going via the lake is the long way around but I guess I can pick up some game on the way from the snare line.

I get to the lake without finding anything in our snares. I suppose I did just check them the day before yesterday and with the fire, the animals are probably still hiding. While I am here, I may as well fish for a bit - I do need the food and the fish definitely won't have been scared away by the fire. I can also fill up my water bottle and look through my gifts from yesterdays feast. First, I fill up my water bottle before finding a long stick to use as a fishing rod. I then manage to pull the parachute out from the bottom of by backpack and untie the strings from the cloth. Since they are pretty short, I knot them all together and tie the whole thing to the stick. I don’t have much I can use for a hook so I improvise with a small bone from the rabbit which sort of looks hook shaped and tie that to the end. The only food I have is beef jerky and rabbit so I put some jerky on the end because I don’t really like it. I don't really think the fish will like it either but it is worth a try. I pick a nice, flat rock and settle down to wait. As I sit in the sun, I pull out my gifts from the feast. I open the one which was actually meant for me first and discover a large net and a roll of snare line. I could use it for food but I think the net's a bit big for game. Maybe I could trap the other tributes in it if I had to. In the girl from district 11's pack, I find two small, golden disks on top of a folded sheet of paper. I slide the paper from underneath and unfold it. It has instructions for the two disks, which must be small bombs. I could definitely use those.

After about two hours, I decide to head off. I need to reach the strawberry patch by nightfall. But first, I decide to light a fire and cook the two fish I managed to catch and the katniss roots I found on the first day which I had totally forgotten about until now. My favourite meal back home is fish with katniss roots. I don’t find much wood because it was burnt in the bushfire but I manage to get enough for a small fire. I sit beside it and place the fish and roots, all wrapped in leaves, on the coals. It doesn’t take long for the food to cook so as soon as they are done, I shove them in my bag, still wrapped in the leaves and walk along the forcefield into an area of the arena I haven't been in before… Well, since before the games began, anyway.

"Yes!" I exclaim as I walk up to the strawberry patch while the sun sets. I had begun to worry that either I wouldn’t make it or I had gone the wrong way. I walk over to the small hill a couple of meters from the patch and push through a large bush to find a little round door. Thorne and I used to play house here when we were really little - before our fathers would let us help hunt and gather - while the men collected strawberries or replaced the protective nets. I push the door open and find it exactly how it used to be. I roll out my sleeping bag on a pile of net we keep here incase the protective net needs replacing. Before I go outside to watch the nightly death report, I grab the katniss roots and the rest of my rabbit since that is the oldest food I have and it won't keep as long as the fish.

I start to climb the hill to sit above the storage cave but stop as I hear voices at the top of the hill. I proceed a little slower and crouch down behind a bush to see if I can see what's happening. Suddenly, the boy from 11 comes into view, backing away from someone. Jay appears not far behind and walks towards the boy, swinging her sword. Her arm must be a bit better from when I stabbed it. I notice two gold disks in the boy's hand and I understand what he is going to do - blow Jay to pieces. But he won't be able to get away in time so I suppose he will sacrifice himself to kill her. I'd better get out of here or else I will be killed or at least badly injured. I turn and slide down the hill as fast as I can as he stop walking and presses both the center buttons. I re-enter my shelter, closing the door just in time. The ground shakes as a loud boom echoes around the arena. I quickly eat my food and go to bed, registering two cannons before I fall asleep.