Magnets (Hunger Games Marvel/OC)

Chapter 1

Magnets 1

Chapter 1

I sprinted off my tribute plate, running for the Cornucopia. I saw Silas on the other side of the big horn. The Careers were already there, searching through weapons. I snatched up a backpack at my feet, stopped running, and backpedaled into the woods. Silas grabbed a backpack, too, and sprinted towards me. He hid beside me in a small crevice in a big rock, blocked from the open side by lichen and ferns.

"Roman, you're alive." I pushed my long blonde hair out of my eyes.

"Yep. So are you." I didn't think we'd make it this far, to be honest. He curled up into the rock.

"What are we doing here?"

"We wait for the Careers to go hunt tributes, and then we sneak back into the Cornucopia and get our supplies," I clarified. His eyes widened.

"Good plan." We peered through the bushes, and I winced, seeing tribute after tribute murdered in a bloody rage. One boy in particular slashed through bodies with an intense vigor. He was huge and muscled, and he stabbed with a sword. I wouldn't want to be at the wrong end of that thing.

"Roman, are you okay?" I realized I was shaking. "Calm down, Roman!" I tried to control myself. "They all had families! And lives!" I protest.

"Ssh." Silas rubbed my shoulder. "They can't all win." I straightened my composure, not looking at the killing boy. Instead, I looked at another boy. He had walnut-brown hair that caught the sun, shimmering. It flopped into his anxious, paranoid eyes. They kept flitting around and landed on me. I gasped and hid behind a fern. When I dared to peek out again, he was shaking his head and looking back at the others. He pointed to a fire in the distance, and they darted off.

Silas and I crept into the clearing, running with our bodies doubled over almost parallel to the ground. We crouched low and darted in. Silas grabbed a few knives and a spear, and we both grabbed extra backpacks. I weighed different weapons in my hands. Nothing felt right!

"Hurry, Roman!" Silas called. "They could come back at any time!"

"I can't find anything!" I yelled back in agitation. "Nothing works for me."

"Close your eyes and pick something!" He wailed. I did, selecting a huge battle axe. "Let's go!" I grabbed another one, and a small hatchet, and, slipping the hatchet into the second backpack, I sprinted away with Silas. We hid in the rock crevice and watched the Cornucopia. Not five minutes later, the Careers returned and sat down to talk as the muscular, blond boy and the pretty blonde girl went off to find food.

"Should we go find our own shelter?" Silas breathed. I nodded and we traveled away from the Careers' base.

We tried to be quiet when running from the Careers, but about a mile into the woods, we abandoned all caution and made as much noise as our feet wanted, only trying to stifle a little of the crunching leaves and snapping twigs our feet destroyed.

Finally, at nightfall, we collapsed under a big oak tree. There was a cliff behind it, and tomorrow I promised myself I would scale them and set up a fortress there.

"Want me to keep watch?" Silas asked, yawning. I shook my head.

"We can both sleep. I'm a light sleeper." We unrolled our sleeping bags from the backpacks and were about to lapse into slumber when the Capitol anthem blared. Ten tributes were dead, including the boy from my district, Chandler. I hadn't known him well, only to say hi in passing.

Silas' district partner was also dead, and I heard him sniffle. I looked over at him. He hastily tried to dry his tears, and I tactfully looked away. She was his distant cousin or something and they visited frequently. I glanced up at the tree.

"Let's climb the tree," I suggested, "to sleep in. That way we won't be so vulnerable." Silas nodded through his tears. We scaled the tree and tied ourselves in our sleeping bags. I heard Silas drift off beside me. I couldn't sleep, though. I was uprooted from my life two weeks ago, and who knew if I would still be alive in two hours, let alone two more weeks. Who knew if I could win? My stomach began to ache from anxiety. I forced myself to not think about it. The sky dimmed and I closed my eyes, sinking into sleep.

I woke with dawn and so did Silas. He taught me how to set a few traps and snares and we checked them an hour later. We were rewarded with two rabbits and a squirrel, and then we were faced with the problem of how to cook them. We couldn't light a fire unless we wanted to bring the Careers down on us, and if we ate it raw we'd get salmonella. We decided on making a fire, trying to wave away the smoke, and being ready to leave at any time. We wanted to roast the meat over the coals, but they had to get hot enough to cook over first. This would be difficult.

We were almost ready to cook when I felt eyes on me. "Silas, up the tree," I commanded. We shot up like squirrels, hanging on for dear life. We had our backpacks on our backs and the meat wrapped in leaves in the packs. The shrubs below us rustled and four Careers stepped out. The muscular one paced around with the blonde girl, who I'd decided was an airhead.

The black-haired girl twirled a knife in her hands, and the handsome boy with walnut hair looked around in paranoia, like he knew he was being watched.

"Don't make a sound," I dared to breathe to Silas. His breaths were ragged and and panting. Even I could hear them. I tried to slow my own breathing as well, but I could tell my exaggerated attempts weren't working.

"I don't get it. Who would light a fire and leave?" My eyes jerked down to see the handsome Career speaking anxiously, running his hand through his hair and gesturing wildly with his spear. I bit my lip looking at him. No doubt, he had killed lots of tributes. Why should I feel butterflies when I looked at him?

"Probably some weak tribute," the muscular boy growled.

"Whoever they are, they're not amateurs." The black-haired girl said, walking around the fire. "They left no trace."

"You're right, Clove." That was the muscular boy.

"Of course I'm right, Cato!" She snapped. Cato raised his hands in the universal whoa gesture. I noticed Silas watching Clove with rapture. He sighed heavily, a bit too heavily. The Careers looked around, whirling and glaring into the bushes. The blonde girl glanced up, but Silas and I shrunk against the tree and she didn't see us.

"They probably ran off already." I knew who spoke-- the handsome boy. They looked around, muttering something about 'Probably around here somewhere' and 'could be watching us right now'. It was unnerving because both of those things were true. Finally, the girl from District 1 with the blonde hair spoke.

"Let's go. Whoever this is, is wasting our time. We'll find them eventually." Her words rang true, scarily enough. The Careers ran back through the woods, but not until they'd poured water on our fire.

After the Careers were gone for a
few minutes, Silas and I dared to climb down the tree. The coals of our fire were still warm, so we pulled the meat out and finished roasting it over the coals. We ate hungrily and packed up most of the rabbits and squirrel for later, moving on our way.