Chapter 23

Everyone was gathered around their campsite. The sky had turned to black, making the stars light up in the sky. Are they even real? Blake asked herself. Suddenly a holograph appeared in the sky. The capital symbol was on it, underneath it said:

The Fallen Tributes:

Koland's face was displayed. Blake could feel her heart sinking. Why did he kill himself?

Blake turned her head to look at Serpen, she was looking at his face with a blank stare. It was as if she never knew him. Neil's face then appeared in the sky, Blake felt sorrow in her. She hated the fact he didn't deserve to die like he did. The angry boy from 9, Greyson appeared in the sky. It reminded Blake of when he attacked her or when Neil was crying in the corner. Una from 11 was displayed right after. Next, the boy from 12, Phoenix appeared. She didn't know him very well, but he was a nice person. The hologram disappeared from the sky.

"Well, not many died today..." Adele sighed, she sat up against a dead tree. They were all thirsty, but not enough to go near the only water source they've seen.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hendall snots. Adele widens her eyes.

"Usually, 10-14 people die on the first night or during the bloodbath; it was only 5 today. Tomorrow I say we track them down, to eliminate the competition." Everyone agreed with Adele, but Wintell seemed unsure.

"We'll sleep in shifts, since we're all kinda in a circle, we'll just go around until morning. I'll take the first one" Adele commanded. She was becoming the leader of their alliance. Since Blake was between Wintell and Adele, making her the last person to take a shift. Blake opened her backpack to find a sleeping bag, night vision goggles, an empty canteen, first aid, and a pair of socks. It was pretty good compared to the others. Wintell had the sleeping bag with a rope, but also got a knife which came with poison liquid. Blake had to watch out for him. Hendall only had a knife, which she was bummed about. Serpen and Adele had grabbed a variety of supplies and other weapons they would need. She grabs her sleeping bag, along with her kunais hiding under her shirt. The brunette soon drifted off. She didn't dream of anything but felt like she could sleep forever, was that a good thing?

Before she knew it, the sun was grazing her skin, Blake sits up, her back screaming at her in pain. She winces, Blake didn't realize that someone was already awake.

"Morning sunshine," a male voice spoke. She turned Wintell's way, knowing who it was.

"How long have you been up?" Blake asks.

"Since dawn, Hendall was on watch for a long time, I was already up so I told her I'd do it." Blake nodded, she probably couldn't go back to sleep.

"I can watch if you want to sleep, I don't think I could go back to sleep" Blake suggests.

"That's alright, I don't think I could either." Wintell sighs, they both sat in silence. She loved the silence that followed their conversation. Later on, Adele awoke.

"Are they still sleeping? I say we leave them and go get water" Adele brushed off her pants and grabbed the empty canteens and bottles.

"We can't leave them here unconscious. We should have someone stay back." Wintell suggests.

"Great idea, you just volunteered yourself, let's go Blake" Adele turned in the direction of the pond. Blake waves goodbye.

They walk for a while till they reach it. Finally, they see the pond. It looked so awkward in the middle of the dead forest.

"Not creepy at all...you are going to fill the bottles, I'll watch your back" Blake does as she is commanded, bends down to the pond and starts to fill the canteens. Suddenly, the bushes rustle. Adele slides her knife out of her sleeve, armed and ready. A teen boy pops out of the bushes and attacks Adele, Jaxx. Blake drops the canteens, shoving Jaxx off of Adele. Adele stabs the boy's calf, making it gush blood.

"Do you want to finish him or should I?" Adele smirks. Blake nods to her, giving the blonde the signal. A scream escapes the forest, followed by a cannon.

"Let's get back," Blake shivers. The girls pick up all the canteens and head back to the camp. As they pass a hill, they both hear a scream escape someone.

"Come on, let's see who's dying" Blake follows Adele to the other side. A gasp escapes Blake, quicksand was devouring a child, Tylan.

"Tylan!" Blake is about to run to him, but Adele stops her.

"There's no point, he'll die either way." a cannon goes off yet again.

"We better get going, Wintell's probably worried." They walk back cautiously, making sure quicksand was not in their path. They make it back safely, seeing a worried Wintell.

"Good thing you both weren't killed, I heard two cannons so I was hoping it wasn't you two."

"Aw, did someone miss us?" Blake teases.

"Whatever," Wintell smirks. They all decided to wake up Hendall and Serpen, since they had been sleeping for a while.

"Who died? Does anyone know?" Hendall asks.

"Jaxx and Tylan, we watched them die..." Blake sighs.

Adele rolls her eyes, "makes us all closer to winning." They needed a new spot, so they walk towards the northern end of the pond, still hidden but closer. If anyone went to the pond, they would have to walk 150 feet to find them. On their journey, Blake and Wintell spot Iken standing over an almost lifeless Dawn.

"Kill me, It hurts, it hurts so bad" she gasps for air. Iken turns away and stabs Dawn, you could just hear a gasp out of her. Blake's eyes widened.

"Let's let him live another day, he deserves it" Wintell stands up out of their hiding place and keeps moving north, Blake follows with the image still in her head. They finally reach their destination.

"This will be a perfect spot," Adele smiles widely. They all set their supplies down.

"Let's all hide in the trees, we can jump on someone if they come near us" Serpen climbs a tree, while the others find one as well. About an hour later, they could hear bickering in the distance, near the pond.

"Hey! How about we both get water and then we can spare each other? Truce?" a dark boy suggests innocently, Questin. Blake would know that voice from anywhere.

"That's not really how I roll, besides, I need to eliminate the competition." A dark haired girl responds.

"I think that's Files" Hendall whispers. Files grabs her bow and fires it right at Questin's chest. He gasps, like Dawn had. He fell to his knees and collapsed onto the ground. A cannon erupts. Files giggles.

"You can come out now, Maine" Files pulls a blonde girl out of the bushes.

"I get the next kill!" Maine skips into the water, bathing herself.

"Of course," Files follows Maine into the water, giving her a peck on the lips.

"Woah, didn't see that coming," Serpen says astounded. Adele just rolls her eyes.

Files examines the area, "Let's leave before someone else comes." They gather their stuff and swiftly run through the woods.

"This is dumb, let's get ready and gather food for tonight." Adele hops out of the trees.

Blake examines the area, "how the hell are we gonna find food?"

"Hunt, of course" Serpen scoffs.

"I'll come with you," Wintell follows her.

Blake hadn't really been hunting before, she had only been spear fishing. They reach more crowded brush areas.

"I'm guessing you haven't done a lot of actual hunting back at district four. Fishing mostly?" Wintell infers.

"You would be correct. I can't really use my strength here..." Blake sighs.

"Don't worry, you have me. I'll teach you" He shows her how to make a trap and catch an animal. Suddenly, a jack rabbit appears.

"Okay, he's taking the bait. Once he reaches the rope, pull it and he'll go hanging up into the tree" Wintell whispers into Blake's ear softly, causing her back to tingle. The jack rabbit enters the rope hole.

"Pull it, rough" They pull together quickly. It goes shooting into the air, hanging by the legs. Some of Its grey and tan fur falling off from the momentum.

"We did it!" Blake jumped up, giving Wintell a hug. Realizing what she did, she pulls away quickly.

"Uh, now we have to kill it" They stand face to face with the rabbit. He was hanging up by his legs.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Wintell gives her room. Blake's eyes widened, she had killed fish but this was different.

Don't be a scaredy cat, just kill it. Prove to him you're not some innocent girl

Blake gripped a kunai from her belt, she held it up to the jack rabbits eyes. She closed her eyes, hoping for the best. She stabs the rabbit, Blake winces. Wintell noticed her hesitation and her resistance to killing. That was something Blake needed to get over. Wintell carried the rabbit back to camp, along with a few other animals. He skinned them, then cut out their organs and eyes. The girls cooked them quickly. Finally they were able to eat, thankfully no one saw their fire. 

Sorry it took me soo long for me to post the second chapter! My laptop was being fixed, silly me. I FINALLY GOT IT BACK!! So I will be posting again! There was a few deaths in here, what are your thoughts?

-Grey