34. Temptation

       My head was pounding. Eric had knocked me on my head pretty hard, so hard that I thought he would’ve killed me. Thankfully he hadn’t, but I didn’t appreciate the knockout blow to my head. It was giving me a massive headache.

            My nose wrinkled. Sunlight was shining through my eyelids. I groaned gutturally, trying to turn away from the sun. I felt slightly lightheaded. That’s not a good sign. Slowly, I peeked open one eye only to not be looking directly at the sky like I had presumed I would be. Instead, here I was tied to what was left of a charred tree. I looked up. The sky was blue, the clouds were puffy, and the sun was bright and hot. A perfect day—for Eric and Meeka maybe.

            I wriggled my shoulders, wincing in pain as my shoulder injury aggravated me. Seraphine’s medicine was a slow healer. I got a first look at the boys’ supplies. There was Eric’s net gun, I saw plenty of food still alive; a shredded sleeping bag; a huge, gleaming sword basking in the sunlight; my ax, and I saw a small, clear bag containing berries—most likely nightlock. They had to have been in the jungle area—that’s where I first suspected I saw the deadly berries. I also saw some chains lying around as well. Why not just chain me up? Tying me up with rope seems a bit weak for them. They might’ve been exhausted just lugging me back here that they got lazy.

            I began to notice that patches of ground were becoming visible. The snow was starting to melt. That meant if Sutton and Seraphine didn’t realize I had disappeared until just now, they’d never find my tracks or evidence of a struggle. They were left without a clue. Wait, maybe Eric’s net is still on the ground! I scanned the supplies to make sure the net that had captured me was missing. It looked to be, though I wasn’t quite sure yet.

            “Look who finally decided to wake,” Meeka snickered. I jumped at the sound of his voice, banging my head against the tree I was tied to. I gritted my teeth, biting my lip. Eric was right in tow behind him. “Like your new bed?”

            “I’ve slept on better things,” I snarled. “Just what do you plan on doing with me?”

            “You’re bait for Sutton,” Meeka drawled. “I want nothing more than to make her pay for leaving us. What better way to make her suffer than to kidnap her only ally, kill her before her eyes, and then watch as she goes into an outrage and tries to kill me in revenge?”

            “You’re mental.” I wiggled restlessly. “Let me out of this!”

            “We should’ve gagged her,” Eric muttered to Meeka. “I can knock her out again.”

            “One bump on my head is good enough, thank you,” I retorted.

            “I’ll quiet her down.” Meeka tore off a loose strand of his shirt and sauntered over to me. I moved my head until Meeka shoved the cloth into my mouth. I made muffled screeches of annoyance as he tied it around the back of my head. “There.” He rose. “We’ll get some peace and quiet around here now.”

            I kicked the melting snow under my feet. Meeka and Eric went to do what they did best: sometimes steal glances at me like I was the funniest thing in the world as they talked amongst each other in hushed whispers. My nostrils flared angrily. Just how long did they think they were going to be able to hold me here? Someday I was going to escape—somehow—and run far away from them, hopefully back to Sutton and Seraphine.

            By now the girls had to know something went wrong with me. If there was any snow left, they’d follow my prints. I doubted there was. For now, I had to hope that one of them had good tracking skills and could hunt me down.

            Being tied up was definitely not fun. I couldn’t move around much. I could try and stand up, but even that felt uncomfortable. The boys never gave me food, water, or even the chance to take off the stupid gag Meeka put in my mouth. I wish I had a pocketknife or something in my back pocket. Now would be a great time to use one.

            The heat was scorching, and all of the snow was gone now. When Eric and Meeka drank, it made me squirm. I was dying for something to drink. My throat was extremely dry, and my stomach was yelling at me to be fed. It was hard to feed myself when I was tied to a burnt tree.

            When I thought the day could get no worse for me, it did.

            “Greetings to the final five contestants of the final Hunger Games,” Claudius Templesmith’s voice boomed. I nearly jumped. The day so far had been pretty quiet for me, not to mention boring and uncomfortable as hell. Eric and Meeka looked to the skies, as if expecting someone to appear above us. “I am pleased to announce that you all are invited to attend a feast at the Cornucopia later this evening. It is something I’m sure all of you wouldn’t want to pass up.”

            A feast. Well, Claudius couldn’t have been vaguer about it. A feast could mean anything for the remaining five tributes. It could be anything. Sometimes the Gamemakers would lure tributes to the Cornucopia with the promise of a feast when really, there’s barely enough food to suit one person. I had the feeling that was what this was going to be: a fight to the death over a piece of food that would satisfy only one person.

            “We have to go,” Eric said. “No doubt Sutton will go there, same goes for the other girl.”

            “The Gamemakers seem to be helping us. They definitely want the victor to be a Career,” Meeka thought out loud. His gaze snapped to me. I swallowed dryly. “We’re not going to let you be here all alone.” I shook my head vigorously until I could spit out the gag Meeka had put in my mouth earlier. “We’re not taking any chances.”

            “I figured that,” I snarled.

            “Eric, pack up everything.”

            “Already on it,” Eric called. He was stuffing everything into what was left of the sleeping bag. When in doubt, improvise.

Meeka grabbed my chin in his hand. His eyes were full of mischief. I scowled at him.

            “I hope we get attacked on the way to the feast,” I said darkly. “At least I might have a chance at escaping you nitwits.”

            “You wouldn’t even dare think about it. Try and escape when we leave for the Cornucopia,” Meeka challenged me.

            “You’re tempting me.” I wasn’t sure whether or not to try and escape now. The way Meeka challenged me indicated that he or Eric would hurt me for trying to run off. How many more hits could my body take? My shoulder was still sore, I still had a limp, the hole in my side from Noah was healed but could be easily opened again, and I had claw scratches running across my face from the mutts attacking me. “I think you want me to try, because you haven’t hurt anybody for a while. You want to manipulate me somehow into trying to escape just so you have an excuse to hurt me.”

            Meeka said nothing. Instead, he went back over to help Eric pack up what was left. I noticed that the only things they didn’t pack were the sword, my ax, and the chains. If they suspected Sutton and Seraphine would be at the feast, it was better to bring out the weaponry than stuff it in a pack. Then again, I bet the weapons would be out for another reason: to subdue me should I try and run away. Lucky me they had no long range weapons, though the net gun could be considered one. Just hope it’s empty.

            When the sun started to set, that’s when the boys finally decided to let me be unbound. It felt good to stand erect again. I scratched everywhere. I felt like bugs had been crawling all over me. Eric grabbed a hold of me while Meeka slung their things over his shoulder. Eric nudged me along, Meeka tossed him the sword. I saw there was still some dried blood on it. Probably the District 12 boy’s, I thought sadly.

That had been a scary first day for me, having that poor kid killed feet from my hiding spot. It had unnerved me, just like each death I witnessed had.

            Eric prodded me in the back with the tip of the sword, forcing me to move onward. I wasn’t sure how far of a hike we were going to have to take, but at some point, I was going to get desperate enough to try and make a run for it. Meeka kept close behind Eric and me.

            I kept wondering about so many things: if Sutton and Seraphine were taking the feast as bait like we three were, whether or not the girls suspected the boys captured me, what the feast was really going to look like. So far the Gamemakers had been sort of generous. I bet there would be a buffet, because nothing made tributes fight one another more than a huge table piled with food. The thought made my stomach groan.

            Eric and Meeka weren’t patient with the slight limp I still had because of my bitten leg. Eric shoved me along so many times I considered lashing out at him, trying to take him down. I immediately didn’t think that was wise, being that Meeka was right there and wouldn’t hesitate to restrain me or hurt me into submission.

            “Do you even know where we’re going?” I hissed at them.

            “Of course,” Meeka boasted. I rolled my eyes. “The woods are thinning out. We’re close.”

            “The woods have been thinned out since the forest fire!”

            “What do you think is really waiting for us at the Cornucopia?” Eric asked Meeka, completely ignoring me.

            “It could be anything. It might not even be a feast at all. For all we know, they could be coaxing us to a feast for another wave of mutts,” Meeka said flatly.

            While the boys were conversing, I was trying to think of the best way to cause them harm without causing me harm and thinking about how effective the method would really be. I considered an elbow to Eric’s gut, but the sword would be dangerously close to me. I considered getting him in his sweet spot, that would give me some time to escape, but then I had to factor in Meeka’s possible quick reaction. There’s going to be no easy way to do this.

            I bit my lip in concentration. I was caught up in my own thoughts so much that I tuned the boys out. You better act on instinct. Hope you get lucky and manage to run away. Retrieve the axe, too, if you can, my brain told me. I wasn’t sure whether or not my brain was telling me to take a chance or be stupid. It sounded like it was telling me to do both.

            I suddenly tripped on something, falling forward. Acting fast, I grabbed Eric’s arm and tossed him over me, slamming him into the ground. Meeka lunged for me, but I ducked out of his bear-grab just in time. I turned back to wrestle the pack from him. Meeka gave a hard tug, pulling me to him. I immediately let go—not quickly enough. Meeka’s rough hand grabbed my throat. He dropped the pack on the ground, focusing on me.

            I heard Eric grunt and groan as he sat up. Meeka glowered down at me. He wasn’t choking me to death; he was doing enough to make me feel intimidated. Mission accomplished. Consider me scared for my life.

            “I thought you weren’t tempted into trying to run?” Meeka purred. I thrashed around wildly, trying to get some wiggle room. He wasn’t giving me squat.

             “It was worth a shot,” I hissed, gulping.

            “More like a waste of time,” Eric panted. I heard the sword clatter to the ground near us. “The chains are in the bag?”

            “Yeah. Why?”

            “She needs to know what happens when she tries to run from us.” Eric rummaged around in the bag. I could hear the chains rattling. He had found them.

I heard a flashlight click on behind me, the light shone on Meeka. He squinted from the bright light. The chains rattled restlessly, menacingly behind me. My feet scrambled but made no ground. I was still held by Meeka.

            I yelped as the chains struck my back. Eric snickered, and Meeka’s lips twitched a smirk. I closed my eyes. Another blow to my back. I whimpered. I was waiting for Meeka to turn me around so Eric could chuck the chains at my face. Thankfully, Meeka had some humanity—which I didn’t think was possible for someone like him. I took ten blows in total from the chains, each one making my back sting in pain.

            I wondered what an actual whip would’ve felt like on me. Wait, scratch that. It was better if I didn’t know what that felt like. Being beaten by chains on my back was painful enough. I couldn’t imagine what Dad and Troy were witnessing. I bet one of them was furious and was just dying to leap through the TV to come to my rescue.

I wished that that could actually happen right now.

            “I think that’s enough,” Meeka stopped Eric. I panted lightly, afraid to move an inch. Meeka’s blue eyes gazed into mine. “Lesson learned?”

            “Yes,” I gasped, trying to fight the pain.

            Meeka threw me to the ground. I cringed when Eric jingled the chains near me. He cackled.

            “That’ll show you not to run away again,” he crooned. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.” I flinched when Eric hoisted me up by my arm. Meeka recovered the pack and the sword. Eric still had the chains in his hand along with the flashlight. One beating was enough for me to realize that these boys didn’t bluff about punishing me for disobedience. Hell, I didn’t know why I thought they were bluffing to begin with. These kids were Careers, trained killers, extremely strong and probably insane.

            Meeka took over the flashlight since Eric wanted to keep a hold on me and the chains. He probably thought I had ideas about escaping again. He wouldn’t have to worry about me; I wouldn’t try and run, not unless I wanted to risk another beating—or worse. I mean, they had nightlock, my ax, and a sword, not to mention a net gun. The things these boys could do to torture me into submission…

I didn’t want to think about it.

            It seemed we took forever to get through the burnt woods. There was a huge opening, and the silver Cornucopia hut was bathed in moonlight. I looked up at the sky. A full moon. Usually when there was a full moon, crazy things happened. I bet something crazy was bound to happen here soon.

            We all stopped at the border between the field of the Cornucopia and the burnt woods. Eric and Meeka surveyed the area while I tried to the best of my ability to find a trace of Sutton and/or Seraphine, all while ignoring my painfully throbbing back. There was no way those girls could become enemies now, not while a common ally of theirs was in the hands of the enemy.

            “It seems to be clear,” Meeka muttered. I shifted restlessly in Eric’s grasp. Eric swung the chains back and forth in his hand. The sound made me shy away. “Can you see the feast anywhere?”

            “I-I do,” I said in a small voice. I looked ahead of me.

            Just before the mouth of the Cornucopia was a long, elegant table, with a white tablecloth. The only way I knew it existed was the candles that were lit on it. I couldn’t see what food was on the table, but I bet it was quite a variety.

            “Let’s go,” Eric murmured.

 We three carefully made the trek to the table. I looked around nervously. How come Sutton and Seraphine weren’t around? They have to be. I am not about to spend another day with these idiots. I’ll die in their care.

            Something moved from above. I snapped my head up quickly to see someone duck behind the Cornucopia’s slightly elevated roof. My heart thudded hopefully. It had to be one of the girls. My eyes couldn’t be tricking me now of all times.

            We were before the table now. My stomach growled longingly as my eyes bulged at the food. There were all sorts, reminding me of the food on the Tribute Train.

            “I bet those two didn’t bother to come. They probably realized they’d lose against us,” Meeka snorted. He walked all around the table, eyeing each food. “Looks like you’ll be alive just a little bit longer, Bridget.”

            “I thought you’d never call me by my name again,” I scoffed. “I thought you were always going to act as if I was a slave of yours.”

            “You’re our bait,” Eric reminded me in my ear. I turned my head away from him.

            “All of this looks so good,” Meeka said, rubbing his stomach. “What to choose first…”

            Unlike the boys, I was thinking with my head, not my stomach. As appetizing as this food looked, there had to be some kind of catch that the boys were missing. I wasn’t blinded by hunger, so I was able to think properly.

            “This doesn’t seem right,” I muttered.

            “What?” Eric asked me.

            “It seems too easy.” I shrugged. “Why would the Gamemakers be so generous like this? Giving us all of this food?” There had to be some catch to it. Poisoned food? Mutts waiting in the Cornucopia, ready to fight us once again, this time killing us all? A bomb hidden under the table? I knew there were more possibilities, but none other than the three came to mind at the moment.

            “Who cares?” Eric scoffed. “We’re here. Let’s gorge ourselves and stuff what we can in our pack and leave!”

            “Hold on, Eric,” Meeka said slowly. “Maybe she’s got a point.” He eyed the food suspiciously.

            “You’re actually siding with her?”

            “Possibly. But only if she’s right.”

            “Then let’s test her theory. If you feel so strongly about it, why don’t we let her test the food first?” Eric proposed. “We shouldn’t risk ourselves when we have her.”

            “I’d rather not,” I stammered. “I’m bait enough.”

            “Think of this as a bit of free rein for you.” Eric released my arm. I could feel their gazes locking onto me. I felt pressured.

            For some reason, the pressure faded in me as my stomach took control over my brain. The first thing I picked up was a piece of chocolate. I licked my lips just holding it. I didn’t hold back in stuffing myself with a few good pieces of chocolate. I sucked what was on my fingers clean off. Hmm, maybe I was just being paranoid.

            “Well?” Meeka asked me, looking at me from across the table.

            “It tastes fine,” I reported, shrugging. “Maybe the Gamemakers are being nice after—”

            My stomach rejected the chocolate. I threw it back up onto the grass. I held my stomach, blowing more chunks. The boys didn’t bother to help me. They watched as I leaned on the table for support.

            Oh no…not again. Not now. Not when I’m so close to the end of the Games. I knew what this meant. The chocolate hadn’t gone bad at all, it tasted really delicious. But appearances could be deceiving, just like the nightlock. I had been right all along, the Gamemakers tried to blindside us.

            The chocolate was poisoned—which meant everything on the table was as well.