18. Predator and Prey

       I couldn’t believe I was saying it, but I had actually gotten a good amount of sleep. I had no nightmares shockingly, which meant a lot considering I saw a person hanging dead above me not too long ago. That person had had a grudge against me, and I killed her. I didn’t feel happy about it for the most part, but there was a small part of me that did like it. After all, I didn’t have to worry about her anymore. However, I would have to deal with Noah, Eric, and/or the entire Career pack if anyone knew who had really killed Kaya.

            Just because I got a good amount of sleep didn’t guarantee me feeling all comfortable when waking up. My limbs ached, and I had a slight headache. I was still nestled against Daniel. I sighed quietly. Dan’s chest vibrated with a chuckle.

            “You’re awake finally,” he mused.

            “Finally?” I yawned. “What time is it?”

            “I don’t know, but judging by the light shining through the cave entrance, the sun’s been out for a while.”

            “You never left me?” I looked up at him.

            “Why would I do that, Bridget? I’m not stupid. What if a tribute, say—one who wanted to kill you—”

            “That’s every tribute,” I sang.

            “Not true, because of Sutton and me,” Dan corrected me. I grimaced; I hated when he was right. “But what if someone found out you were here alone?”

            “I’d fight them off with my hatchet.”

            “Say I took the hatchet with me.”

            “Are you trying to make me die in this situation?”

            “I’m just laying out all the possibilities,” he said defensively. “The point is, I wouldn’t leave you by yourself, whether you’re armed or not. We’re in this together, you and me.”

            I was glad Daniel was focused on that goal still, because I was becoming paranoid about the Career pack and Noah out for my blood. I knew they didn’t know who killed Kaya, did they? I bet they’d all like nothing more than to stab me in the heart or break my neck with a smooth, swift twist. I shuddered. Even though neck breaking was a quick death, it was horrible to watch. I had never seen it happen, but I had a feeling it was a rough thing to watch.

            “So…are we going out hunting today or what?” I asked, sitting up. My neck was stiff; I flinched when I tried to move it. I was afraid to move it because it hurt, so I didn’t try my luck again.

            “Sore neck?” Dan sat up as well.

            “Yeah,” I squeaked, rubbing it.

            “Let me. Tell me if I hurt you.”

            “I know you won’t hurt me, even if it’s doing something so harmless like this.”

            Dan went to work on the kinks in my neck. At one point, he made it worse, but I didn’t show him I was in any pain. I didn’t want him to feel like he was hurting me. Despite how sharp the pain felt, I kept my body language neutral and tried not to fidget.

            “There weren’t any deaths today, were there?” I asked him. “Oh…right there.” I tilted my head back, my shoulders slumped. Dan had hit the right spot.

            “I didn’t hear any cannons, so nobody’s dead yet. I’m guessing this is much better?”

            “Much,” I agreed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you here with me, Dan.”

            “Well, you seemed to do fine the three days you didn’t have me with you,” he reminded me. Hmm, fair point.

            “You do not know how agonizing those days were.” I twisted around to look at him. His eyes glistened from what sun leaked into the cave. “I was afraid each day that I would be killed, whether by another tribute or my own stupidity. And I was afraid you’d been killed.”

            “Are you still afraid?” His voice was quiet.

            “Of course I’m afraid. What kind of a question is that?” I snorted. “I feel like I just put a huge target on my back!”

            “An imaginary target, Bridget,” Dan said softly. He rubbed my arm. “You’re becoming paranoid.”

            “Thank you for telling me something I already know,” I growled.

            “And here I thought you got a good night’s sleep.”

            “I’m sorry,” I whined, “it’s just…the Games are so stressful! It’s already messing with my innocence, and it’s starting to drive me insane. And it’s only day…” Shoot, I forgot what day it was. “It’s just been a few days too many here in the arena.”

            “I know. And lower your voice, will you? This cave echoes.”

            “Come on, who has supersonic hearing in the Games? Nobody.”

            “You don’t know that.”

            Another point to Daniel for being right.

            I crawled next to him to lean against him. Right now, there was no one I trusted other than him, though Sutton could be an exception. However, she wasn’t with me now. So what if she had covered for me on the first day? A few days could really change a person, especially in the arena.

            “What are we sitting around here for?” Dan asked me. I peered at him. “We should be out hunting, don’t you think?”

            “Maybe. Should I take my pack with me?”

            “Why would you want to do that?”

            “What if another tribute found our hideout and stole it? And what if I left my pack here for them to claim as their own?”

            “Okay, that’s not right,” Dan whimpered. I giggled.  “It’s been a while since you’ve actually laughed like that.”

            “Yeah, I guess it has, hasn’t it?” I hadn’t really paid attention to my happiness level since I was too busy worrying about the Games. Of course, there was no reason to be happy in the Games other than knowing you got to live another day. “It feels good.”

            “It’s also a sign you aren’t going insane. Now, grab your pack and let’s get going.”

            I scrambled in the dark to pack up the semi-dry blanket, hatchet, and the water canteen. I was going to have to make a note to Daniel that we needed to find a water source while out. It sounded like a long shot, but there wasn’t enough water for us both to live off of for much longer.

            Dan was the first to emerge from the cave mouth. I stepped out, nearly blinded by the sun. Looking at Dan in light, he looked dirty, like he had been in a fire. His hair was extremely messy; his arms were coated in dirt. The only thing that didn’t look out of place was his personality and his emotions in his eyes. It was like Dan was viewing me for the first time too, because his eyes widened in surprise.

            “I’m a mess, huh?” I said.

            “Only a little.” He picked twigs out of my hair. He gingerly touched my face. “Bri, you still have tribute on your face.”

            “I haven’t had time to care about prying off dead tribute flesh off my skin, Dan. I’ve been too busy worrying about staying alive!” I groaned.

            “Chill, tiger,” he snickered.

            “We’re going to have to try and find a water source while we’re out, the water in the canteen is low, and I think I’m overdue for a cleansing.”

            “If we’re lucky, we’ll come across one. I haven’t really seen many rivers or springs in here.”

             “Well, let’s keep our hopes up and get moving!” I picked a random direction and started marching away, pack slung over my shoulders.

            “Bridget, do you even know where you’re going?” Dan called. I heard him try and catch up to me.

            “Not in the slightest,” I admitted. “But I’ve been lucky with it so far.”

            “Well, if the logic works for you…” Dan said uneasily. We didn’t have a map or anything, so picking any direction would just have to work.

            Despite how hesitant Dan was about following me, he did anyway. He had no way of knowing which way was the best to find food. Well, neither did I. We had to hope for the best.

            Walking with Dan in the jungle didn’t make me feel scared at all, it was a change from being by myself for the past three days. So it’s our fifth day here, I concluded. It was simple math…for now. I was just waiting for the day to come that I’d forget how many days we had been grasping to life in here. I was lucky I managed to remember what day it was currently.

            I wasn’t sure if we had passed Kaya’s murder scene. If we had, we wouldn’t have known. Her body had been taken by the hovercraft definitely by now, and the monkeys were gone. My eyes went to the ground, just hoping to find a sliver of water that could lead us to a stream or even a small pond—the pond sounded more refreshing.

            We took very little breaks. My legs begged me to stop moving, so we stopped to rest only once. When we continued, Daniel had to sometimes give me a nudge so I could drag myself across the jungle. I considered asking him to carry me, but I decided against it. I knew Dan would do it, but knowing that he was probably just as tired as I was, I didn’t bother to bring it up.

 Wait a second…

            “I just thought of something,” I said. How did I not think of it before? How come Dan didn’t bring it up? Was walking aimlessly around in the arena making us dumb?

            “Oh?” Dan was in tow behind me. “And what might that be?”

            I stopped, turning to look at him. “How are we going to know which way to head back?”

            “Don’t worry, Bri.” I saw the hatchet in his hand. “I made a gash in the trees we’ve passed. Nobody will think anything of it if they see it. It’s not like I carved our names in it or anything.”

            “Since when did you pull that out of the pack?” I eyed my hatchet.

            “You were too tired to really notice.” He shrugged.

            My stomach rumbled. Dan sighed. I looked at him with sad eyes. We needed to find food and fast. Without another word to each other, I wheeled around and continued to march forward.

            As the sun beat down on us both, I began to see we had crossed the jungle’s boundary. I could tell because this was the way I had come a few days ago from the woods. I was back where I started; this was new territory for Dan. Hmm, maybe we can get some squirrels or something now, provided they don’t eat our faces off first.

            The trees seemed scarcer where we traveled. Maybe I hadn’t come from here before, because I remembered the forest to be quite flourished, with plants and mossy trees galore, but no wildlife…that I was aware of anyway. I had only hung around the woods for a day and a half, not enough time to really seek out food.

            A small crunch in the grass made me freeze. Daniel bumped into me. I shot him a look.

            “What?” he said.

            “Shh! I thought I heard something,” I told him. “Be quiet.”

            “You’re the only one still talking.”

            “Dan, not now!”

            We both kept silent, waiting for the noise again. The small crunch came again. I tensed. It wasn’t big enough for a tribute, so that meant it was an animal. If we could catch it and kill it, we’d have food. I beckoned Dan to follow me as I took cover behind a tree. I peered from the side of it.

            We had sort of struck gold. There were at least four squirrels, all jumping around looking for food like we were. We had to be careful about them, though. They could be flesh-eating, like the monkeys had been. I didn’t want to die by squirrels, the death seemed pathetic.

            “How are we approaching this?” Dan piped. He was on the other side of the tree, looking at the squirrels.

            “We’re going to have to trap them and hope they aren’t rabid.”

            “Then we kill them with the hatchet?”

            “Yup, but if we’re chopping their heads off, you do it. I’ve seen enough blood and whatnot for too long. I’m not killing an animal. I’ll help trap it, but not kill it.”

            “Typical Bridget,” Dan muttered under his breath. I rolled my eyes at him.

            “Ready?”

            “Ready.”

            We both burst from behind the tree. The squirrels immediately scattered. Daniel picked one as did I. The suckers were fast. We lost two who disappeared, saving themselves. I had my squirrel trapped under me, but he bit my knuckle. I gave a snarl of pain and the little bastard ran off. I swore he was laughing as he ran. I snorted in disgust. Just hope he isn’t rabid and didn’t like the taste of your skin. Well, I was dirty so maybe I wouldn’t appeal to him. Usually when food was disgusting and dirty, nobody touched it—unless they weren’t right in the head and didn’t mind the taste of dirty food.

            “Got one,” Dan said proudly.

I clutched my bleeding knuckle to see Dan had bagged us a squirrel. It wriggled under him, but he fidgeted less as the hatchet hovered above his neck. His beady black eyes looked frightened, but I didn’t care. Even though I despised animal killing, this was necessary.

            I turned my head away, shutting my eyes. I was ready to hear the chop, ready to hear the squirrel’s head roll away from its body. God, that’s such a gross image. Instead, I heard something completely different—something I didn’t want to hear.

            I heard bodies collide. I quickly shot my eyes open to look; Daniel was locked in a wrestling match with a tribute. My brows knitted together, and I lunged for the kid. I didn’t care about the stupid squirrel anymore; I needed to get Dan free from the kid.

I took the tribute out by the waist. I heard his air leave him as I tackled him to the ground. He punched me in the nose. Great, just aggravate the old injury. I yowled, and he threw me off him.

            My head slammed against the green ground. I looked to see Dan out for the count. My heart skipped a beat. No cannon went off, so he’s still alive. This kid won’t be though when I’m done with him!

            The kid leapt atop of me, grabbing my throat in his hands. My breaths were raspy; I tried to pry him off. I could feel the blood from my nose drip into my mouth. The irony taste wasn’t welcome in my mouth.

 I began to feel lightheaded as I looked to the skies. The grip got tighter and my fingers clawed at his hands. If I could have, I would have bitten him to let go of me. I wasn’t able to do that unfortunately.

            I kneed him in his soft spot as a last-minute escape attempt. He howled in pain, releasing my neck to cover the spot. I kicked him in the face and knocked him on his back. I fumbled for the hatchet and pounced on the kid. With my eyes full of malevolence, I straddled him, holding the hatchet’s blade close to his neck. If the squirrel wasn’t going to get killed, this kid was. The hatchet was going to deliver a death slice sometime today.

            Wait, no, stop it! my conscience told me. It may be the Hunger Games, but don’t kill him! That’s how you’re going to lose yourself!

            I have to; otherwise he’ll kill Dan and me! He knocked out Dan already. I’m not about to let him do anymore harm, my brain told my conscience.

            I slowly lowered the blade towards the kid’s throat. I met his eyes; those hazel eyes looked vaguely familiar. Despite having his life in my hands, he wasn’t scared of me. He had a stupid grin across his face, like he knew I wouldn’t kill him. Oh, I’ll kill him all right!

            No, you won’t, my brain hissed at me.

Stupid internal battles. They never worked out right.

            “You’re actually going to kill me, Mother Nature?” he cackled. My nostrils flared angrily. His eyes met mine, and soon I recognized him. My muscles were still frozen where they were, but my mind went into shock. I didn’t show it in my eyes. “I thought you were symbolizing all the good things about nature, not the animalistic characteristics.”

            No…it can’t be. I really had wished I had run into Sutton, or any other tribute besides him. I remembered him from training; he always hung around the Boxing station. He was also a dead girl’s widowed boyfriend. I wasn’t sure if I was using that term right, but that’s how it described him.

            I was in deep trouble now. I really wished Eric had killed him, that way I wouldn’t have to face him right this moment. I really hoped he didn’t know how his girlfriend died or who killed her; otherwise my hesitation would lead to my elimination.

            It was District 8’s boy, Noah.