18. Another Kill, Another Blow

I hadn't really noticed just how far we hiked through the woods until we were running back the way we came. My leg threatened to buckle a few times because it felt like it was working too hard. I ran, the belt full of knives jangling against my body, the empty blowgun bouncing inside my jacket. I was keeping up pretty well.

We didn't hesitate to make noise when running, because we weren't really hunting. We were running back to our safe zone so we could trap a tribute who we thought was heading for the Cornucopia. For all we knew, we could have the wrong idea, but we were pretty convinced that was where he was headed. If he heard Aubrey and knew she was a Career, he probably assumed the rest of the pack was out as well. What better chance to snatch some weapons from the Cornucopia when all the pack is out, far away from their base?

I was so trained on keeping up with Bane and Aubrey that a tree branch tripped me. I fell face first, eating dirt. I spat it out. Bane came back for me and threw me onto his back. I immediately wrapped my legs around his waist, arms around his neck and held on. I guess

Aubrey and he didn't want to wait for me to catch up. I wouldn't have minded if they had gone on without me.

Wait; scratch that...I would have minded. I would have been left alone, and I wouldn't be able to see the boy—whoever he was—get killed.

I ducked when a branch threatened to knock me out. I wondered if the boy who was going to the Cornucopia was Shane. Bane would finally get his chance to end the boy. But for some reason, I didn't want Shane to die. I didn't get it, I couldn't understand it.

Shane was smacked from my brain when thin tree branches smacked my forehead, probably giving ticks a chance to crawl on me and sink themselves into my skin, sucking on me like the little vampires they were.

When we crashed through the woods and the Cornucopia was in sight, I swore I saw a figure go in. Anger surged within me, so much that I detached myself from Bane, pulling out the blowgun and loading a dart. A loud scream from the Cornucopia made me run even faster, passing Aubrey and nearly catching up to Bane. A small boom exploded, making me freeze for a second. Light shone from the Cornucopia, coughing echoed out of it. I saw the boy run in the dark. I aimed for the boy, shooting. I got him in his leg. He toppled and I took lead, pouncing on his legs to hold him down.

He swiped at me with chains, forcing me to retreat. I pulled out my dart and jumped on his back, holding him. He rolled over, crushing my body between his and the ground. He whirled around, pressing the chains on my throat. My arms were trapped against his body so I couldn't do anything.

With a battle cry, Aubrey knocked the boy off me. I sat up, grabbing my throat, coughing. Victor and Ben ran out of the Cornucopia, eyes watering as they went to help Aubrey. Jenna came to help me up, her eyes were wet at well.

"Hold him!" Bane called. He stalked towards the wrestling match between Aubrey, Victor, Ben, and the boy. A flashlight was on the ground. Aubrey backed off from the fight, holding the light on the boys as they fought. The boy snarled in outrage as he was held by Victor and Ben. Jenna and I walked cautiously towards the fight, joining Aubrey.

The boy stopped struggling when looking at Bane. Bane's lips twisted into a sinister smile. With one quick thrust, the sword impaled the boy. Bane pushed it in there good until there was only the hilt that was visible in the boy's chest. The boy's dark blue eyes were in pain, staring blankly. I saw his body go limp. Jenna howled with laughter, Ben joined in.

Shane didn't die; Bane had yet to kill the boy from 12 still.

"You better not leave that in him," I told Bane, "unless you want the hovercraft to take it away when it comes for his body."

"I'm not going to leave it, Crystal," Bane assured me, ripping it from the boy's chest. I expected his heart to be on the sword, but it wasn't—thank God.

A cannon sounded in the night, and right on cue, the Capitol seal lit up the sky along with the anthem. It was the boy from 13 we had just killed.

"Let's go before his body gets taken away," Jenna suggested.

With Aubrey using the flashlight to sweep the area for other tributes, the rest of us went inside. Victor and Ben were rubbing their eyes.

"What happened to you guys?" I probed. "We thought he set off a mine in here or something. We heard a boom."

"It wasn't a mine, lucky for us," Jenna said, leaning against a wall of the Cornucopia. "It was a grenade full of tear gas. The bastard blinded us."

"Who saw him first?" Bane asked as he cleaned his sword with a cloth he dug up in our inventory.

"I did. We're lucky we're not actually blind." Jenna rubbed her eyes. "We thought he was going to get away, but then you guys showed up not too long after we saw him."

"We found his camp and thought he might be coming here," I explained.

Aubrey came back with the flashlight shining on us.

"Nobody else is around?" Victor asked her.

"Nope," Aubrey confirmed. She looked over her shoulder. "I hate that those are silent when they come for the dead. You never know they're there until you feel the winds pick up."

"What idiot decides to come here thinking that they'll come out in one piece with a few goodies?" Ben asked, combing through his hair.

"Well, Bane smelled the smoke, then Aubrey got a little too giddy because she thought we were dealing with a rookie," I explained. "I think he figured we were all out and away from here, giving him a free pass to some goods."

"Boy did he think wrong!" Jenna laughed. "He probably knew he ran right into a trap when he realized we were in here."

"A trap we didn't intend to make," Victor boomed. "We should do this more often since it worked."

"Yeah, but we only got one kill," Bane grumbled.

"One is better than none in my book," I told him. "Who's up for taking a shift tonight?"

"I will," Jenna volunteered.

"I'll go, too," Ben seconded.

"Go on the roof, you've got a good view from there," Aubrey told them. "Hey, Victor, toss them those night vision goggles, will you? I didn't even know we had those with us. I could have used them last night! Actually, you three could have used them just now."

"Sorry, we were too occupied with our burning eyes from a tear gas grenade," Victor said stiffly. He tossed Jenna and Ben each a pair of goggles. I relinquished my knife belt to Jenna for the night so she could use it just in case. Her eyes lit up at the temporary gift I gave her. She obviously liked the knives and a good ax. Aubrey handed over the flashlight to them as well, and Ben and Jenna climbed up the Cornucopia to settle up there for the night shift.

The rest of us found our little spots in the Cornucopia, settling in. Bane kept his sword near him, hand lightly on the hilt of it. I sat up, looking at my leg, unraveling Bane's handiwork. It looked to be healing from what I could feel, there was no fresh blood oozing from it—a good sign.

I retied my leg, faced the wall of the Cornucopia, and waited for sleep to take me away.

* * *

My stomach complaining about nearly dying was what startled me awake. I groaned, sitting up. My stomach yelled at me again. Okay, you want food; I'll find some in the dark. I crawled to the food pile, trying to find something. It wasn't pitch black outside, I could tell dawn was approaching. I wished the light would peek in here just so I could see what I was grabbing.

I found something round—an apple, I think. I felt it all around—yup, definitely an apple.

I didn't have to worry about food or water, because the apple was giving me both. I took my time in chewing and savoring the water in it, and the flavor. I hated being up so early, but I just hadn't felt hungry lately until now. Killing people and seeing their fresh blood on weapons close to you really made you lose your appetite fast.

I sat in the mouth of the Cornucopia, apple in hand. It was nearly nothing but the core now. The sun was starting to get higher. Today was day three in the arena. Day three, seventeen tributes remaining. These Games were going to seem long because of how many tributes were still left.

Yet...the arena couldn't be ridiculously big. Other tributes had to encounter each other sometime. Gamemakers didn't like it when the Games got boring. They did something about it to make people interested again, whether sending muttations on tributes or causing earthquakes or storms. As long as tributes died, the Gamemakers would unleash what was necessary to make that happen.

"You're up early." Bane was behind me.

"I was hungry." I shrugged.

Bane sat beside me, sword between us. "And you only took an apple?"

"I just crawled to the food pile and grabbed the first thing I felt," I said defensively.

Bane chuckled. "How's your leg?"

"It felt better last night. I couldn't see it but it felt fine."

"Well, daylight is coming, so let's check it now."

Tossing the apple core away, I rolled up my pant leg and untied the cloth around my leg. I gasped. There was a bit of dried blood still around the cut, but it was already healing. Where the arrow sunk in was replaced by a bright pink line. I hadn't gotten injured much in my life with the exception of bruises. I was a fast healer.

I tentatively touched the pink line. It was real all right, no illusion. I laughed with relief.

"And that's with no medicine," Bane whispered. "Amazing. You never told me you were a fast healer."

"I didn't know I was. I've never gotten cut before in my life."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"No, it's true," I retorted lightly. "The only injuries I've gotten were either emotional or bruises. No cuts until two days ago. But this was a small cut. I can't imagine I would heal as quickly if I got sliced deeper and longer on my leg."

"I'd rather not think about it." Bane made a face. I decided I would rather not either.

Another hour later, we heard the rest get up, rummaging in the food pile. I could hear clomping feet above; Jenna and Ben were up and probably realized the rest of the pack was up as well. Jenna had a skip in her step as she flaunted to the food pile, Ben tagging along. I would have thought she'd be upset, being that there were no invading tributes to stab with a knife or chop their limbs—whether it's an arm, leg, or their head—with the ax.

I still kept the cloth around my leg as I let my pant leg slide down back to its normal spot. I felt ready to go today, I wanted to go out and tribute hunt. That sounded like a sport to me, because I was a Career. I doubted many tributes thought like we Careers did, that the idea of hunting and killing other tributes was a thrilling experience. I bet they were just more afraid of being killed than thinking about killing an enemy.

* * *

"Come on, guys, it's noon and we've done nothing!" Jenna whined hours later. She made a point; we hadn't left the Cornucopia unless we had to go to the bathroom. "I want to go hunt."

"Same here," I agreed.

"Fine, you two go, then," Victor decided.

"No, no, we need one more," I protested.

"I guess I'll go," Ben said quietly.

"Grab what you want and get moving," Aubrey suggested.

"Let's take food this time, and water, just in case," I added.

I was the one to keep the pack with the food and water in it. Jenna didn't give up the knife belt I gave to her, and I never bothered to ask for it. Ben got his spear thrown over his shoulder. The blowgun and my six darts were tucked within my jacket. I was the oldest out of our hunting party, I realized. Jenna and Ben were the same age, I believed.

We took our time getting into the woods, I took lead. I kept my eyes out for any tributes that were disguised, just like I did last night. The woods didn't seem to be flourishing with wildlife like I had hoped, even though that's what we weren't hunting for. There was a brisk wind that blew on our faces. My jacket kept out the wind for my body. I had always assumed it was thin and wouldn't do well in weather.

"Shh," Ben said suddenly. I stopped in my tracks, freezing, my hand floating around my jacket again to reach the blowgun. "I think I hear something."

"Animal?" Jenna probed.

"Dunno. I'm going to climb and scout the area. If I see danger, I'll signal you with a bird call."

Jenna and I gave Ben a boost. He took to the tree like a squirrel, but didn't move up the tree quickly like one. Jenna watched anxiously as he climbed while I loaded my blowgun, just to be safe. I scanned around us since Jenna was too busy making sure Ben didn't fall out of the tree.

Jenna finally whipped out two knives, standing back-to-back with me. We muted our breathing. I shook my head; gnats were getting in my face and on my nerves. I swallowed. How high did Ben have to climb just to search for danger? What if he was killed before he could tell us danger was around? A cannon would go off, duh.

I sometimes wondered why I thought stupid things that there were simple answers to.

Ben yelled. Jenna nearly had a heart attack. I whirled around, looking up at the tree. Ben fell; Jenna and I saved him from crashing hard to the ground.

"Ben!" Jenna panicked. In him was an arrow. I swallowed with difficulty. "Oh my God, we've got to go back!"

"No, we've got to hunt whoever shot him," I protested.

"Do you want to be killed, too?"

"He's not dead, Jenna."

"Not yet," she whined. "Forget who shot him. If we make it out alive, maybe we'll get help from a sponsor!" I hesitated; Ben's weight was killing my arms. "Please, Crystal."

I sighed. This was a first for Jenna, not wanting to go after a tribute. I considered going after the person who did this to Ben, mainly because I could try and shoot them with my darts, but I figured a dart wouldn't kill like an arrow could.

I remembered the bloody arrow that shot me two days ago. I didn't want one thrown in my chest this time, or my neck, or my head. Having one in my leg was plenty times enough to have an arrow in me.

"Fine," I gave in. "But we've got to hurry. No doubt if they saw Ben, they can either see us or hear us."

Somehow, we worked out a system and got an unconscious Ben out of the woods. He was still alive; no cannon had signaled his death. We hadn't hiked very long, because we were out of the woods and back to the Cornucopia. I saw someone—I think Victor—searching the perimeter again.

"We've got to get him inside!" Jenna yelled.

Victor ran towards us. He skidded to a halt just as we did. "What happened?" His face looked appalled.

"Ben thought he heard someone so he went up in a tree to see, but someone shot him. He's not dead, though," I said in a rush.

"Here, I'll take him for you."

Carefully, Victor took Ben from Jenna and me. Jenna ran after Victor, I trotted behind them, though I was very tempted to go back into the woods and hunt for the hunter who nearly killed Ben.

Aubrey screamed when Victor brought Ben's body inside. I stood at the mouth of the Cornucopia. Jenna hovered by Ben's side as Victor laid him down on a sleeping bag. His chest was heaving feebly, like he didn't have much fight left in him.

"My God," Jenna sobbed. She covered her hand with her mouth.

This was amazing to me. The thing we Careers feared more than anything was any of our pack getting injured, or killed off.

"Who did this to him?" Bane asked in a level voice.

"We don't know," I sighed. "I wanted to go hunt whoever it was down, but Jenna insisted on bringing him back. She thinks a sponsor might help him out."

"I'm sure they will."

"That bitch," Jenna roared suddenly. Aubrey jumped. "I—I know who did this to him. Bella, from Seven. She did this to him." Jenna's lip quivered. "There's no one else I saw with a bow and arrow during the fight except for her." She had Ben's head in her lap. "I want to go out looking for her."

"Whoa, let's slow down a minute," Victor said calmly.

"Do you think we should pull the arrow out?" I asked hesitantly.

"No way," Jenna snapped. "If we pull it out, he might die."

"Well, if we don't, he dies!" This was beginning to look like a lose-lose situation for Ben.

"When we get help from a sponsor, then we'll yank it out and save him. I don't want him to be in any more pain than he already is." Jenna's eyes threatened to start a waterfall.

"Look, we all can't go looking for just one girl who shot him," Victor butted in gently.

"I'll stay here with him," I offered.

"I will, too," Aubrey voiced. "You three can go out looking for her, but wait a little bit first. Let's get Ben stable and eat a little bit before you three go. Okay?"

"That sounds like a plan to me," Bane said.

"Fine," Jenna huffed. She skulked away, picking away at the food pile.

We five picked at the food while Ben lay almost dead on a sleeping bag. Jenna never took her eyes off him, even while she ate.