Beauty and a Beast

Chapter 6

Yesterday went by in the blink of an eye. Fifteen tributes are alive. I'm still sad that I don't have a sword, but I think, given my performance so far, I could be in luck soon.

"First thing after this; we find water," Link says as we eat breakfast. Since each of us managed to snag food at the Cornucopia, I feel pretty spoiled, chewing into an orange.

We're all thirsty, though, which is worse than going hungry. My throat... ugh. It's drier than a hot day on District 4. I don't wanna talk.

"I remember seeing an oasis when we got here last night," Marius says. "It's on the other side of this hill. We just have to climb it again."

Andrea groans. She would, prissy girl that she is.

I climbed mountains, ten times the size of this hill, every week, in District 2, as part of my secret Hunger Games training. But I also did it for fun. Gets your adrenaline going and challenges your balance. Despite everything Panem restricts, we could explore the mountains if we wanted, so long as we upheld our school/work duties and the nightly curfew. Hills are nothing to me.

We find the water, which turns out to be a pond, right where Marius remembered it. There must be other sources besides this and the moat, because it's incredibly tiny. Unless, of course, the Gamemakers refill it every day.

"Hallelujah!" Lily croaks when we arrive. "Hydration time is the best time."

"Amen to that," Hal agrees, falling to his knees by the water.

I chuckle at their delirious behavior. "Well, if you're like this now, I can't imagine how you're gonna be in five days..."

Lily splashes water on me, laughing. We fill up our bottles eagerly, and I enjoy every sip of liquid goodness. Why did I never notice before how delicious water is? I swear I could drink up this whole pond myself.

We hang around here for a bit, refill our bottles again. Then we cross the hills and travel west, deep inside forest grounds. Always watching for tributes.

Um, why was I so worried again? This is really easy when everybody else fears you. Even my allies are afraid of me, though they don't admit it. I can tell.

"You guys," Link whispers, pointing to a tree on the left. "I see smoke. Somebody's over there." He's right. Just around this tree, there's the District 10 girl, tending to a fire. Since he was first to spot her, we let Link take the lead. He sneaks up slowly. He has to be slow in compensation for his size. Inch by inch, Link is closer to his next victim. Just as he gets close enough, she spins to face us. Shocked.

Like she stands a chance. Link heaves his club at her skull, and the power behind his strike causes her to fall unconscious. Since we don't want her to wake up, the rest of us join Link to finish her off. I drive my club into her ankles. Lily and Marius both give her one blow to the back. Hal and Andrea beat at the girl's skull again,

And

BOOM

She is no more.

"Bye bye," Andrea says playfully.
*********************************
The only death that day was our kill. I'm starting to agree with Andrea; this can get boring after a while. We're not always gonna be so fortunate, but I don't wanna waste time.

"Who's up for hunting?" I ask my allies the following day.

I'm not talking about animals.

Hal smiles. "When am I not? Dude, you know me, Enobaria. Who are we?"

"District Two," I reply.

"Be careful when we come for you," we finish in unison. It's a dorky cheer Phoebe made up to show our partnership. Right now I bet she's beaming at us through her television screen.

Andrea scoffs. "Please. District One is better than all of you. You too, Link."

"Whaaa?" Link replies mockingly. "Princess, my uncle is the mayor of District One."

Lily and Marius make a hissing sound, like a fire fizzling out.

"Burn!" they say together.

"I'm gonna burn you if you don't shut it, District Four!" Well, now. Princess Andrea's not amused.

"Is your uncle really the mayor?" I ask Link.

"Yeah. His name's Avery Knott, if you don't believe me. I mentioned him in my interview."

"Right," I reply, nodding. "I've heard the name."

We've started walking again when Andrea suddenly halts.

"Shh," she whispers. "Listen."

The leaves are rustling loudly. Then... a thud. Something big has either fallen or is walking towards us.

"Let's get out of here!" Lily shouts.

We don't need to be told. I hear two cannons during our flight through the arena. We run for quite some time, zig-zagging around trees and bushes, before we realize that no mutt is following us; but I don't feel dumb about it. Better safe than sorry. It must've been some gigantic tree or rock that we heard falling. Large enough to crush two people. I think they were together, since the cannons went off one right after the other.

"How many are left now?" Marius asks.

"Twelve," I reply. "Only half of the tributes, gone in three days."

"And we know where six tributes are," Link comments, meeting each of our eyes.

Don't tell me. He's deciding who the biggest threat is, and when he does, he'll eliminate them.

I should watch my back.

"The District 3 girl and the District 11 girl died today," Hal announces that night as the anthem plays. The rest of us have our eyes half-closed. He's acting as guard for the moment. Later, it'll be my turn; then Marius and Lily will follow. We've decided to change guard every three hours in the order of our districts, so Andrea and Link already took their shifts tonight. Weird sleep pattern, but it worked the first two nights.

That's right. Somebody could be stupid enough to ambush us. Believe me, it's happened before with past "Careers" (I guess that's what we're called), and it wasn't pretty for their opponents. Bloody mess.

"G'night," Lily whispers from the sleeping bag beside me. "Sleep tight."

"Awake tomorrow ready to fight," I reply. We just made it up ourselves this morning. See how extremely tired we are? Yeah. I need sleep.

And so it comes, gently, like riding on a cloud.